The Possibility
by Jazzy1
Summary: Hermione and Draco make a terrible mistake over something that may have been. Dr/Her. Warning: Contains Adult Themes, Character Death
1. What's My Name?

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not claim any right to the original plots or characters. I am not JK Rowling. I am not affiliated with Scholastic or Warner Bros. I am just a fan with a writing habit.

The Possibility 

"You haven't told anyone about us right?" Draco asked as he sat on the edge of the bed and began to redress himself.

"Who would I tell?"

He asked her this question every time.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just making sure. I enjoy your…company, and I just don't want to see this have to end because you let it spill, what we do…"

"That _I_ let it spill?" Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Malfoy, you're so much more of a gossip then I will ever be."

He smirked playfully and turned to face her, pulling her leg down until she fell back onto the bed. Draco was only half dressed, his pants half-way up his leg, as his crawled over her, pressing his chest against hers to push her back into the sheets.

Hermione giggled.

She wasn't supposed to giggle. Did she think he was funny? He'd have to correct that immediately…

"What did I tell you about calling me Malfoy, _Granger_?" He emphasized her last name to show her how it felt, but she kept on giggling.

He lunged forward and caught her bottom lip playfully in-between his teeth. "Don't make me bite you," growled Draco.

"My, my, what fangs you have…_Malfoy_." She knew that he wouldn't understand the joke. He had probably never heard of Red-Riding Hood, but she didn't care.

Draco smiled playfully at her before sinking his teeth gently into the crook of her neck. She playfully screamed, and fought against him, until he pressed his teeth a bit deeper against her tender flesh.

Her body responded automatically to him. Her head fell back; granting him more access as he ventured his lips across her shoulder blade.

"You're not leaving this room until you say my name," Draco whispered in her ear.

"I hope you have time then," she quickly responded, her tone dropped into a lower register that she knew drove him wild. She caught that unique flare in his grey eyes and knew that she had him snagged.

Draco grabbed her wrists and threw them up above her head, restraining her beneath him. Her legs wrapped back around him as she slid her ankle down the side of his leg, removing his pants back down onto the floor.

"You love to misbehave don't you Mudblood? It seems like I have to teach you a lesson nearly every night." That devious smirk refused to budge off of his face.

"I guess, I never learn. Maybe I need a better teacher?" Hermione shot back at him. She knew that he only called her a Mudblood to irritate her. She wasn't going to let him get to her this time.

Draco caught a spike of anger in her tone. It amused him. She started to fight against him a bit more, pushing her chest up against his and wiggling her hips. The feel of her bare chest pressed up against his own serve to only arouse him more. She could fight against him all day long, as long as she stayed topless.

"I'm going to give you a chance to say you're sorry and correct your mistake. But I'm only going to give you one. What's my name Hermione?"

"Malfoy," she shot back, with a defiant smirk of her own. It didn't last long as her lips transformed into an 'Oh' shape as his fingers found her opening and plunged deep inside of her. His fingers were long and forceful as he began to press up against her.

The sound of her moaning beneath him made him feel powerful and in control. It was his favorite sound in the world. Her hips started to roll in a wave motion towards his palm. He pushed his wrist forward and went deeper.

"Don't have much to say now, do you?" He scooted back onto the bed and placed his head between her wide spread legs, releasing his hold over her chest. She wasn't going anywhere.

It took him mere seconds to place her sensitive nub into his mouth. His tongue pushed to the front and grazed over it rapidly as his fingers continued to explore the inside of her body. Her moans changed the second he put his mouth on her. They got deeper in her chest, and became uncontrolled.

Draco felt her hands reach down and grasp his hair in desperation as she began to lose control to his touch.

"What's my name, Mudblood?" Draco whispered, his breath hot against her wet folds.

"Ohhhhh," was all she could manage to get out of her mouth. She would have given him what he wanted to hear, but she couldn't process her thoughts when he was down on her. The brightest witch Hogwarts had ever seen was quieted, and dumbed down, by the slick tongue of a Slytherin.

Hermione felt her orgasm building up steadily but before she was able to ride it through, he stopped.

She gasped in disappointment, and then whined, "Please, don't stop. I was so close!"

Draco chuckled at her frustration. "I know; that's why I stopped."

She glared at him and kicked him in his side. "You're so mean!"

"I wasn't being nice to you. I was teaching you a lesson." He crawled back over her. Her hands were wrapped around his torso, softly resting on his back.

Draco looked her sternly in the eyes, to make sure she was focusing on his words. "Are you going to behave?"

"After that? No way in hell! That was so mean, Malfoy!"

"Oh, really?" Draco retorted sarcastically."Did you want me to apologize?"

"Yes!"

"I will, after you tell me my name."

"Fuck you ferret!" was shot back at him.

He glared at her. "That's how it is then?"

She nodded. "MmmHmm, until you give me what I want."

"Oh, I'll give you what you want alright," he unsheathed himself and inserted himself in her without warning. Her head shot back against the pillow as a sharp gasp emitted from her plush lips.

He loved that face. She made that face during their first time, and had continued to do so each time he penetrated her, like each time was new.

It might as well have been new every time. She was so tight he could hardly believe his luck. It was like bedding a virgin who knew exactly what she was doing, every night. This was largely because of his size, but it didn't matter why, all he knew was that it felt amazing to be inside of her.

Draco thrust into her aggressively. Any other time, he would have been gentle with her, giving her an inch or so of him at a time until her body fully received him at a gradual pace. But he knew at this point that she could take him fully within her, and she was being punished.

"Malfoy," Hermione gasped, moaning against him as she desperately clung onto his torso. Her hot moans hit the side of his face as she pulled him down against her body.

He thrust harder against her. "If you want me to let you cum, you'll behave."

Her eyes rolled back as he continued to thrust into her. She was so close to reaching her peak.

He put on a front; the truth was that he was terribly turned on, and close to reaching his end as well. He just hoped she caved in before he did, or she'd never take him seriously again.

He slowed down his pace in hope to regain some control of himself.

"No, don't stop," she begged. "Please, keep going. Harder!"

He shook his head, a wicked grin on his face. "You know what you have to do."

Her eyes shot open as she glared at him, furious in her heat. "Baby please!" she pleaded.

He put his teeth back onto her neck and bit down hard; she cried out and pressed her nails deep into his back. "Draco!" she gasped.

He had won.

She felt him chuckle into her neck. "Shut up and fuck me." She couldn't help but laugh herself.

They stopped their laughing as he looked at her face-to-face, put his lips on hers, and kissed her furiously as he thrust harder and deeper against her hips. She moaned into his lips, it felt like a buzz against his mouth.

She tried to pull away as he quickened his pace, but he kissed her harder. He wanted to taste her moans as she came against him.

"Oh god!" she whispered against his lips. He kept going at a consistent pace, thrusting deeper each time. Her hands gripped against him, her sharp nails piercing his back as she started to cum.

"Draco," she groaned against his lips. He took advantage of her open mouth and slid his tongue into her wet cavern.

Their kiss was intense and wet as he thrust through her orgasm until he reached his own, deep inside of her.

They both attempted to catch their breath as he rolled off of her. He pulled her in against his chest and held onto her.

"Thank you Draco," said Hermione, succumbing to his request as she placed light kisses onto his bare chest. He was so beautiful as he lay there next to her, light beads of sweat glistening off his body.

Draco reached his arm over, wrapped her body into his, and played with her hair, running his fingers down her curls and stroking his hand back up. It was her weakness; she absolutely adored having her hair played with.

"You're going to make me fall asleep," she protested.

"You probably should. It's getting late," Draco whispered as he pressed a loving kiss against her temple.

"I don't want you to go," she held onto him tighter, pressing her body fully against his.

"I have to. I'm going to be lucky if I can get out of here undetected at this hour. Filch will be patrolling the halls."

"You can get past Filch. That's not even an excuse," she called him out.

"Yeah, but still, I should go back to my own room."

Hermione and Draco were Head Boy and Head Girl. They had their own rooms, but they happened to be at opposite ends of the school. Hermione would give anything to push them together.

"Fine, I'll see you later." She rolled away and let him get up.

Draco got fully dressed this time, without distraction.

Hermione was falling asleep already. Her body was exhausted from the multiple exertions they had partaken in that night.

He walked over to her side of the bed and knelt down.

"Are you going to sleep naked?" he teased.

She slowly nodded, her eyes barely open. "I'm so comfortable. You have no idea."

He pushed her hair out of her face so that he could look at her. "If I think of you over here in your room alone, sprawled out naked in these sheets I'm going to have a hard time getting tired…" he teased.

"Sounds like a personal problem." She tried to stifle a yawn, but failed.

"Put you to sleep, did I?" He joked, arrogantly.

"In the best of ways, C'mere," she asked, leaning forward.

He leaned into her as she kissed him tenderly.

"Good night." Hermione bid softly, as they separated their kiss.

"Night," he softly replied, before standing up and walking out of the room.

As the door shut, Hermione rolled back around, and pulled her pillow against her body. She could smell him in her sheets, it soothed her, and before she realized, she had fallen asleep.


	2. Tension

Hermione had never told a soul about what she and Draco got up to in the middle of the night. She didn't know a soul that wouldn't resent her for it if they knew.

She felt especially tired that day as she ate her breakfast in the Great Hall with Ron and Harry. Once again, they were droning on about something Quidditch related, and so she tuned out their conversation as she ate.

Looking up, she noticed Draco walking into the Great hall. He winked at her quickly and she felt her face go red as she began to blush.

He loved to mess with her and it drove her nuts.

Hermione watched Draco walk up to the Slytherin table and sit down next to Pansy Parkinson. He took her hand into his and Hermione couldn't suppress the feeling of jealous rage accumulating in her gut.

She knew that they were together, but it still infuriated her. Not only were they together but they were practically engaged. Everyone expected them to get married as soon as they left Hogwarts. A pureblood couple like that just made sense in the wizarding world and was expected of them.

Not that it mattered to Pansy. Pansy was crazy for Draco, as was every other girl in Slytherin house. Hermione smiled to herself thinking of how absolutely livid the girls of Slytherin would be if they knew that Draco was fucking the Mudblood of Gryffindor house almost every night.

"What's so funny?" asked Harry.

"Hmm, what? Oh, nothing," responded Hermione as she came back to the moment.

Ron put his arm around her and gently rubbed his knuckles against the top of her head. "Wake up, sleepy head!"

"I am awake," she swatted his hands away.

"You look like you slept a full five minutes," said Ron.

"Thank you, Ron. So charming, as usual," she retorted.

"What? Were you up studying all last night? You're the last person who needs to be pulling off all-nighters, Hermione. You know everything there is to know about anything," stated Ron.

"Of course, I don't. Besides, we have a charms exam coming up this week and…" Hermione stifled a yawn, "…and I just want to be assured that I'll do well."

"I bet you could not show up at all, and still do better than that rest of us," said Ron.

Hermione rolled her eyes and finished up her breakfast. She took one last glance at Draco; his arm swung around Pansy, before she stood up and excused herself. "I'm going to go freshen up a bit more. You know, since I look like I've only slept for five minutes!" She poked at Ron and walked out.

Hermione almost screamed when she opened the door to find Draco sitting on her bed. She held her hand over her heart and willed it to calm down.

"Oh my god, Draco, you scared me half to death! What are you doing in here? How did you manage to get here so fast?"

"I saw you leave," Draco explained with a casual shrug. "I'll have you know, you walk slower than my grandmother and you've kept me waiting."

"I didn't keep you because I wasn't expecting you."

She walked over to the mirror and began to inspect the bags under her eyes. "Ughh," she groaned. She looked terrible.

Draco walked over and stood right behind her; pressing his chest flat against her back. He took hold of her wrist and moved it away from her face. "Stop that, you look beautiful," he whispered softly in her ear.

"No, I don't. I look dreadful," she complained.

Draco disagreed. "You look like a woman who hasn't slept properly because she's been making a certain Slytherin very, very happy," he drawled as he trickled his fingers up the sides of her body.

Hermione closed her eyes and leaned back against his body while his hands wrapped around her center to pull her in closer.

They stood there for a moment just basking in each other's embrace before Hermione broke the silence between them.

"How's Pansy?" She couldn't help but feel irritated by what she had seen in the hall; although she had no control over it.

Draco began lightly kissing her neck; blatantly ignoring her question.

"Draco, you heard me," Hermione pressed.

He nodded, "I'm not answering that." He placed a few more kisses up and down her neckline.

Hermione resisted the urge to crane her neck and succumb to his touch.

"Why not?" asked Hermione, raising her eyebrow. Draco rested his chin onto her shoulder and made eye contact with her through the reflection in the mirror.

"You know I don't like to talk about her when I'm with you. Besides, I don't ask you about Weasley," he pointed out.

"I'm not dating Ron-"

"Yet!" Draco laughed. "It's only a matter of time. Everyone knows that"

"No one knows that! It's not some inevitable event! Besides…," she slipped around in his arms until she was facing him; her back leaning against her dresser. "I'm preoccupied right now."

She crushed her lips against his as he stepped forward and lifted her up onto her dresser top as he deepened the kiss.

Hermione's hands quickly found their way up Draco's back and tangled themselves in his hair. She could feel him getting aroused as he pressed up against her body.

She would have pulled him out in that moment and had her way with him, if it weren't for the fact that her charms class started in ten minutes.

"I wanna fuck you so bad right now," Draco groaned; his eyes shut tight as he imagined himself thrusting her into the dresser repeatedly.

"I know baby, but I have charms in ten minutes," Hermione whined.

"I could be fast…" Draco pleaded.

Hermione smiled. Draco was irresistibly adorable when he begged. "I know you could be. But, I can't go to class reeking like you and sex."

Draco smirked at the idea of Hermione walking around all day marked in his scent. Instead, she'd have to spend the day with wet knickers until he slipped into her room that night to relieve her of her tension.

Draco ran his hands up the inside of her thighs and began to caress her panties, letting his finger slide underneath and caresses her center.

Yup, just as he thought, wet as ever…

Hermione held onto Draco's shoulders as she leaned back, moaning. She didn't have to say a word; her moans were clearly begging him to finger her and he couldn't resist. He crushed his lips back against hers as he thrust two fingers deep inside of her. Her legs spread wider as he stroked her rapidly until she quickly came around his fingers.

Draco pulled his hand out and brought them teasingly to his lips. He sucked her juices off of his hand before placing his fingers softly against her lips. She opened her mouth and sucked them down to his bottom knuckle.

"That was hot," expressed Draco in awe that he actually gotten her to taste herself. She pulled him back in and shut him up with her kiss as they both tasted her juices between each other's tongues.

The first bell rang, signaling that they had five minutes to get to class.

Draco let her put her leg back down onto the floor. She was slightly wobbly from her quick orgasm.

"I'm not finished with you yet," Draco growled as he tried to look away from her and think of anything to get rid of the raging erection he now had to deal with. Hermione looked down at his bulge and giggled.

"You think this is funny do you? Might I remind you that you currently have an ocean in your knickers?" Draco snided.

"Yes, but no one knows that but you." Hermione caressed her hand against his cheek before she walked towards the door.

She blew him a kiss. "See you tonight _Malfoy._" She winked and walked out the door to get to class.

She was in so much trouble…

It took Draco a good ten minutes to convince his body that it wasn't going to be able to fuck anyone in that moment. As a result, he was late for Transfiguration and got himself a night date with Professor McGonagall in detention.

He may have been Head Boy but he was still a Slytherin and McGonagall was still head of Gryffindor house. On top of all that, McGonagall had never seemed to have been fond of Draco to begin with. She was also aware that he was Snape's favorite student and everyone knew how the two professors just loved to poke at each other.

Draco was sure he could say something to Snape to get himself out of detention that night, but from the look in Professors McGonagall's eyes that day he got the sense that he shouldn't press his luck…


	3. Serving Detention

At least the detention wasn't that bad. He earned himself another round of hall duty that night. He was surprised that she trusted him with that job. He loved to use his authority over others. There had to of been a Gryffindor prefect who needed the night off or something. Still, he felt lucky to have gotten off so easily.

So far that night, he'd caught four different couples making out in empty classrooms. He'd thoroughly enjoyed embarrassing them as he barge in unexpectantly. If they didn't know how to go about being naughty the right way then they deserved to be caught.

He'd once caught Seamus Finnegan going at it with Parvati Patil in the broom closet one night. That had made his night. The look on their faces was irreplaceable. Then getting to explain to Professor McGonagall what he had caught them doing was priceless. He'd never seen someone get as red as Finnegan had. He hated him after that, but what did he care?

He wouldn't always turn people in when he caught them. Once in a while he'd let people bribe him into leaving them alone. But it didn't happen often and it never happened to Gryffindors.

Suddenly he heard what sounded like a faint moan. His ears perked up and he stopped, listening for the noise again.

Yep, that was definitely moaning he had heard. He pulled out his wand and started to follow the sound. It was coming from the library. He dimly lit his wand, whispering, "lumos".

He kept his wand pointed down so that he could see where he was going without alarming anyone. He didn't want them to know he was coming.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the ginger hair.

It was Weasley and Lavender Brown. They weren't fucking…at least, he didn't think they were fucking…It looked more like he was dry humping the shit out of her while sucking her face off simultaneously…Good lord, why would anyone allow another human being to do that to them?

He thought of Hermione for a second; about how she would feel if he busted her best friend, then considered turning around and letting them get away with this. She didn't need to know about this. But it was too late. While getting lost in his own thought processes Lavender had spotted him. She gasped and jumped down.

"Malfoy, you git! What the fuck are you doing?" R bellowed at him.

Draco raised his wand immediately, "Ah-ah Weasley, watch your temper. I'm on patrol tonight. Trying to make sure students are where they're supposed to be" he couldn't help the sly, satisfied smirk that overtook his features. He did care about Hermione's feelings but it was going to feel so good dragging this dolt down to professor Snape's office. He wasn't going to let McGonagall take care of this one if he could help it, she'd be far too lenient on them.

Ron looked like he was about to grab for his wand.

"If you take your wand out I have every right to stun you Weasley so I'd watch your next move" Draco warned him.

Ron lowered his hand and just glowered at him.

"Walk in front of me" Draco ordered.

Lavender grabbed onto Ron's hand as they walked out of the library, Draco at their back.

"You couldn't just let us alone could you Malfoy? You just get so much pleasure in other people's demise, don't you? You're a sick fucking ferret."

He chuckled to himself. All he could think of was a replay of the previous night. He preferring being called a 'fucking ferret' by Hermione while she had her legs tightly wrapped around his waist; naked in his arms.

"Keep walking Weasel" he pushed his wand against his back.

"Don't fucking touch me." Ron warned.

"Ron, just be easy. We're in enough trouble as it is" lavender cooed as she stroked his arm.

"What happened Weasley? Weren't good enough for the mudblood?" Draco inquired. "Had to settle for the crazy one?"

Ron turned around angrily with his fist raised. Draco was ready with his wand. Lavender grabbed up and held Ron's arm back, "Ron, don't!"

Draco wanted him to just try and strike him. It would make his night that much better.

Ron's fist shook as he put it down and turned back around. He walked even faster; Draco and Lavender had to speed up to keep up with him. Apparently Ron preferred whatever Snape was going to do to him than having to be around Draco for another minute.

They were there in a couple of minutes. Draco knocked on the door. Snape answered it with an agitated look on his face.

"Yes?" he drawled.

"Professor" Draco had a gleeful smile on his face, he felt like a kid in a candy stores, "I brought Weasley and Brown down here because I caught them in the library after hours attempting to fornicate on the bookcase" he tried his best not to laugh.

"We were not fucking you maggot" Ron snapped.

"Language" Snape scolded.

"No professor, they weren't. Not sure Weasley knows _how_ to do it right but they were definitely trying" said Draco amused.

Ron's hands fisted up tightly until his knuckles were white and Lavender's face was bright red. This was priceless. Draco was practically rocking with amusement.

Snape looked disgusted, "Get in here Weasley. You too Brown" he ordered irritated. "Thank you Draco. You may be relieved of your rounds. Who put you on tonight anyway?"

"McGonagall" Draco answered.

"Ah, figures. Have a good night Draco"

"Night professor" he turned away and walked back down the hall. He couldn't wait to tell Pansy the next day. He would make sure the entire school knew by lunch. Hermione had a point; he was a bit of a gossip compared to her.

He snuck his way to Hermione's room. It wasn't difficult. No one came this way except Hermione, McGonagall. Potter and Weasley really. Once in a while Filch would be snooping around but that didn't phase him.

"Crookshanks" Draco whispered her password and opened her door. She was asleep already. Damn it.

He walked up to her bed and sat down on the edge of it and watched her sleep. She had a book in her arms. He slowly lifted her arm and removed it before set it down on the nightstand.

He didn't really believe that Hermione had no feelings for the Weasel. Sure, he knew her feelings for him were much stronger than she let on. But that had nothing to do with how she felt about Ron.

He didn't want her to hear about it from anyone else but him. Only for her, would he take what had just happened seriously. Only because he knew she would care.

"Hermione" he whispered as he gently shook her. "Hermione, wake up for a minute"

Her eyes peeked open slowly. Her body stretched out, her arms flailing out. He had to move back to keep from getting accidently slapped in the face. She curled back in and fell back to sleep.

"No Hermione, don't go back to sleep. Wake up" he shook her again. She realized finally that he was there.

"Draco?"

"Yeah, it's me. Wake up for a minute" he said, coaxing her awake.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. "Hey, what took you so long?"

"I got detention because I was late for transfiguration. Which is your fault by the way"

"How is that my fault?" she frowned.

"Well, I couldn't go to class with a complete hard-on now could I? I had to wait until I …settled down to leave. So I was late."

She couldn't help but smile.

Her eyes were still lulled but held a spark of amusement in them. She was only half awake, but started to wake up a bit more as they kept talking.

"Anyway, I needed to talk to you quick" he continued.

"Is everything okay?"

"Sort of" he took her hand in his, "I was doing hall patrol tonight and I caught someone you know in the library after hours"

"Please tell me you just left them alone. Do you know how many times I've caught Blaise or Goyle out with some girl and I turned my cheek to it for you?"

"Actually…no, I didn't know you had done that" he was actually surprised that rule abiding Hermione had bent the rules for the sake of his friends. For the first time he felt like a bit of a git. "I can't say that I did the same for you, Sorry…"

"Who was it?"

"Weasley."

She sighed, "Great, he'll be a right hurricane tomorrow." She pressed her fingers against her temple anticipating the headache she would be getting from listening to him rant and rave the next day.

"Don't you want to know what he was doing?"

"Do I need to know?"

"Maybe…"

"Sure, tell me. I'm sure you've told a million people by now anyway"

"Not yet…" Draco confessed with guilty innocence.

"I already know you're going to rub it in. you always do when it comes to him"

"I just, I wanted you to hear this from me and not someone else… I caught him with Lavender Brown"

Her hand dropped onto her lap. "What?"

"They weren't…you know, fucking or anything. But they weren't behaving either"

She looked slightly nauseous, "Lavender Brown? Really? Of all people he chose her? She's such a knit wit"

"Yeah, I felt obligated to stop the atrocity. So, you see? I had no choice. I was just doing the right thing" he justified himself.

She rolled her eyes. "Did he say anything?"

"Not much aside from expressing his desire to knock my teeth out of my face"

"I'd imagine"

"You're not mad though?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"I thought you liked him"

She paused and collected her thoughts, "I do…ish."

"Very articulate Hermione" Draco teased.

She smiled, her lips parting to show her perfect teeth. He adored that smile. It made him self conscience of his own teeth. He felt his lips shut a bit tighter.

"What I mean to say is that I used to have feelings for him. But now, he's really just my friend. I'd rather be with someone more…more…"she struggled to find the right words.

"Like me?" Draco offered.

She started to blush, it was cute. "Yeah, I guess" she admitted softly.

He took hold of her hand again. She averted his eyes. They were too grey, too perfect. She felt her heart flutter and resented it. What they did was fun, but she didn't want to develop feelings for him. She accepted him for what he was. A Slytherin, a pureblood elitist, an arrogant and self centered death eater. She couldn't let herself fall for some like that.

On top of it all he had a girlfriend. If he had been seeing anyone other than Pansy Parkinson, she wouldn't be involved with him at all. Pansy had been so terrible to her throughout the years that she felt she had this coming.

She had constantly made fun of her bushy hair. She constantly pointed out how awkward teeth were in their youth, and had made her feel that her figure was boney and offset for years.

Now that she had curves, sleek controlled curls and perfect teeth, her boyfriend was now more sexually attracted to Hermione than any other woman at school. It made her feel proud and confidant in a pleasurably guilty way.

"You okay?" asked Draco.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine" she shrugged her shoulder as he said it.

He could tell she was lying; he pulled her in and hugged her close. She was so warm from sleeping. He wanted to crawl into the covers next to her and get cozy. He resisted the urge. He had come to her room with every intention of ravishing her into ecstasy and, now that he was here, all he wanted to do was snuggle with her and spoon. How pathetic was he?

She over exaggerated a yawn. "I should get to bed. I don't want to look like a train wreck tomorrow as well"

"Yeah, okay. Sorry I couldn't make it earlier"

"Yeah, me too"

He pulled her in for another close hug and kissed her cheek.

"Night"

"Night Draco"

He shut off her light and snuck by out of her room and made his way back to the Slytherin common room.

A:N/ Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! x


	4. Gossip Girl

When Draco got back to the Slytherin common room he found that he wasn't the only one still awake. It took him a second to realize who it was sitting in the dimly lit room. But sure enough, it was Pansy. It was probably best that he hadn't stayed too long in Hermione's room after all.

"Where have you been?" Pansy asked. Both her legs and her arms were crossed.

Thank Merlin he had a great excuse, "Guess who I caught attempting to shag each other senseless in the library"

She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. She was a sucker for gossip. Draco went and sat next to her with an 'I'm not telling you' smile plastered on his face.

She lightly pinched him in the arm, "Give it up. You owe me; I've been waiting here nearly an hour for you!"

"Fine, fine. I caught Weasley and Brown getting at it against a bookcase."

"Oh yuck" gagged Pansy delighting in the juicy new gossip.

"Yuck? You weren't the one who had to walk in on it. Yuck doesn't describe it"

She cackled. That's what pansy did. She didn't laugh, she cackled. It made him cringe.

"I wish I could have been there to see their ugly faces." She said, having a final laugh. When she finally got over the news, she turned her body towards him and gave him that look. He knew that look. It meant he was going to be getting laid that night after all. Yet, he didn't seem very excited about it. She stood up and placed herself on his lap, facing him. He responded by holding onto her hips, lightly.

"I think you deserve a reward after having to survive that kind of trauma" she started to grind her hips against him. It took a bit for him to respond in the appropriate manner, but he finally did. Once again, he thanked merlin that Hermione had been asleep that night. Pansy was like a hawk, she would have smelled another woman on him the second he walked in the door.

He felt himself peek up a bit more at the thought of Hermione. He ran his hands down Pansy's sides trying to picture the soft curvature of Hermione's body in an attempt to shut out Pansy's straight lined figure.

She laid her lips on his; they were thin and dry. Hermione's were always full and welcoming. Pansy's mouth and tongue were cold whereas Hermione's always seemed to taste of cinnamon and warmth.

"We shouldn't do this in the common room" Draco pointed it. In truth, he just needed to get her off of him for a second.

"Oh yeah, I almost forget" giggled pansy. He could barely see her but he could tell she was blushing. She stood up and let Draco stand as well. He took her hand led him towards his room. He whispered the password, "Crookshanks" Pansy didn't hear him say it, and even if she had she wouldn't have known what it meant. Hermione was the only one who knew his password. He intended to keep it that way. The last thing he needed was for Pansy to walk in on the two of them on one of the rare nights he took Hermione to his room.

Pansy started to strip him of his clothes. He let her strip him down as she started to kiss his body all over. He knew Pansy was crazy about him but she didn't have any real passion. It always felt like they were going through the motions.

He wasn't really in the mood. As soon as she took off his boxers he picked her up and threw her onto the bed. He reached up her skirt and pulled her panties down. He closed her mouth with his own and thrust himself quickly inside of her.

Pansy cried out as he thrust into her. Her moans were so unsexy, they were more like squeaks. He felt like he was humping a boney squeak toy. He shut his eyes and concentrated on the friction, fucking her faster and harder. She interpreted it as need, whereas he just named to get done as fast as he could.

It didn't take very long before he felt himself reaching his peek. He pulled himself out and came on her stomach. He didn't want to stay in there any longer than he needed to. She hadn't cum but he really didn't care, he knew she wouldn't press it, she never did. She was always compliant with whatever he gave her. He hated that. Hermione wouldn't have stood for that kind of behavior. She would have demanded satisfaction. He felt his lip curl up as he thought about how sexy she looked when she asserted her authority. He looked down at Pansy who was looking up at him with doe eyes.

"How was it Dracie?"

"Wonderful" he lied. He ran his hand up her leg before pulling himself away from her. He stretched and mimicked Hermione, exaggerating his yawn.

"I gotta get to bed. It's really late"

"Do you want me to spend the night?" asked pansy pulling the covers over herself.

He cringed, "Not tonight Pans. I just really need to get some good sleep and how am I gonna sleep having you in my bed? I wouldn't be able to control myself", each word hurt. He was grateful he was a decent liar. That or Pansy was just daft enough to believe whatever he said. He was inclined to believe it was the latter.

"Okay baby" she stood up and relocated her panties and siphoned his cum off with her wand. She frowned when it still held a stain. "You ruined another one"

"Sorry" he shrugged.

"It's okay." She gave him a kiss, trying to pull him in closer and deepen it but he didn't let her. She gave up eventually. "I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well"

"Night" he replied.

As soon as the door shut, he rolled his eyes. He felt like he needed a shower. It was already 2 in the morning. He didn't have time. He'd wake up early and take one.

He laid down in bed and tried to relax. Twenty minutes later he was up and in the shower. He could smell her all over him and it was unsettling. He couldn't sleep like that.

Draco let the water crash against his face and cascade down the front of his body. He pushed his head forward and stuck his head completely under the faucet and stood there. The rushing of the water over his ears made him feel like the world was shut out. He could think.

His parents had made it clear to him the summer before school started that they expected him to marry a girl like Pansy. His mother especially had stressed the importance of courting his final year at Hogwarts. Marrying Pansy wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to him, he figured. Most pureblood marriages came with a healthy dose of infidelity. She wouldn't be the only woman in his bed. Maybe he could keep in contact with Granger.

He shook his head and stood back from the waterfall. No, she would never be up for that. As soon as school was over, so would be their fling.

The idea that she wasn't gaga over Weasley made him feel light on his feet, however. She hadn't even gotten mad at him for turning in her best friend. Maybe that was revenge enough for her, having Ron be completely humiliated by his favorite person in the world, Malfoy.

Draco chuckled to himself; he couldn't wait to see the Weasel's face the next day.

He shut off the water, finally relieved. He had the temperate up so high that steam wisped off of his skin as he shut out into the cool air.

He had no problem falling into the sheets and into sleep

/

Hermione was brushing her hair when she heard a rapping at the door. She set her brush down and went to answer it. Her heart leapt initially at the sound of a visitor, her automatic response was to expect Draco. But then she remembered that Draco didn't knock, he always invited himself in.

It was Ron.

"Hi Ron" all she could see was him pressing Lavender up into a bookcase. She had to act like she didn't know about that. No one knew she spoke to Draco on a regular basis.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure" she stepped aside and let him come in.

"So, I got into some trouble last night and I know that everyone is going to be talking about it because Malfoy is a big mouthed git. I just wanted to tell you what happened before you found out from someone else"

"What did you do Ron?" she tried her best to sound as if she didn't already know. She couldn't wait to hear him admit it to her.

"I-well we, Lavender and I" he grunted in frustration and started over. "Malfoy caught me snogging Lavender in the library after hours" he said it all very fast that it almost blurred together. If Hermione hadn't already known what had happened, she probably wouldn't have understood it.

"So you and Lavender Brown are an item now?"

"No…Yes? I don't know yet. But Malfoy tried to spin it off to Snape that I was shagging her in the library. You know that I would never do that Hermione. We haven't even gotten that far yet-

"But you're going to?" Hermione inquired.

Ron turned bright red at the suggestion, "I don't know…just, don't buy into rumors if you hear anything else?"

"I won't Ron, Don't worry" she gave him a comforting smile, "You know me better than that. Gossip isn't my thing"

Ron stared at the ground for a bit, brushing his foot against the carpet. "…and you're not mad?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" she wasn't following him.

"That I'm seeing Lavender? I thought, I dunno, that it might upset you. I almost got the impression that you might have fancied me a little bit?"

She smiled graciously at him, walked up and gave him a peck on his forehead, "Don't worry your sweet little ginger head about that. I'm fine. I wish you both the best."

He looked shocked. She took her finger and closed his mouth, "Don't worry, I mean it. Now let's get going" she grabbed her wand and started to walk out the door, "Come on now"

He moved from his spot and followed her out.

/

Draco didn't even need to tell anyone about his little encounter the night before. True to her nature, Pansy had told every living soul that she had encountered that morning. The Slytherin table was buzzing, snickering and laughing.

Lavender Brown didn't even show up to the Great Hall or her classes. She was too humiliated.

Not everyone was making fun of Ron however. Some of the boys in school were very proud of him. They would congratulate him; give him praise for bagging a girl in the school after hours as he passed by. He didn't correct them as he puffed up his shoulders.

Both he and Lavender had been given a months' worth of detention, to be served separately and had lost their house 200 points apiece. That alone was enough to keep a smile on Draco's face for the rest of the year, on top of the fact that he was shagging the Weasley's best friend. His life couldn't get much better at the moment.

A:N/ Hope you liked! I'm really looking forward to posting the next chapter so much sure you stay tuned and keep reading. Also, remember to review, review, review! Thank you!


	5. Can't Always Get What You Want

Draco was in a foul mood. He was a sore loser. He always had been as a child and he would remain that way for life. Slytherin had just been defeated in a game of quittich against Gryffindor. He thought they had been close to winning but it turns out they had been so far behind in points that it practically wouldn't have mattered if he had caught the snitch before Harry. His team failed him. At least, that was the way Draco was going to play it back in his mind.

He slammed his broom into the broom closet. No one talked to him. The entire team knew to avoid him when his mood got like this. The only comfort he had in all of this as that he would get to spend the rest of the day alone. Even Pansy knew better than to try to get on his good side. He was like an agitated snake, ready to bite and inject position into the first person who would attempt to approach him.

Draco went into one of the changing rooms and stripped out of his quittich robes and into his normal school clothes. He opened the door and walked out of the locker room. He got about a minute away when he realized he'd left his quittich robes back in the changing room.

"Fuck me" he cursed and turned back around against the flow of the crowd who continued to head towards the common rooms.

When he got back to the locker rooms, they were empty. He opened the door to the changing room to see if his robes were still there or if someone had grabbed them for him.

His robes were definitely still there. Not only were they still there, they were being worn by a very naughty Gryffindor who had snuck into the Slytherin changing rooms.

"I was hoping you'd come back for these. I wasn't able to manage getting down here before the game ended. Looks like I got lucky that you have a horrible memory when you're angry" she was laid out on the bench. Her clothes were on the floor beneath her. She was completely naked under that simple robe.

"You look terrible in green" Draco scolded.

"Then maybe you should take this ugly thing off of me" she tempted him with a wicked smile on her face.

If Pansy had tried this with him, he would have been annoyed beyond reason. But looking at Hermione, clad only in a thin layer of his clothes only made him lustful. She was the exception to so many of his rules. This girl was going to be the death of him.

He shut the door behind him. Not that privacy mattered much, everyone had left.

"You know, I could take points away from your house for finding you down here" he threatened as he walked towards her.

"Oh right, because all of those times you were in my room in the Gryffindor tower, you were supposed to be there"

"I can go wherever I want to in this school. I'm a Malfoy." He gloated. He pulled her up by his robes, forcing her to stand up in front of him. They were chest to chest. He could feel the mounds of her breasts pressed against him through the thin layer of fabric she was wearing. He continued speaking, "Where as you are just a filthy…"he drawled his lips against the nape of her neck, "…little…"he pressed his lips down and kissed it,"…mudblood…"he parted his lips and ran his wet tongue up her neck line.

Her eyes were closed as she stretched her neck. When his tongue finally stopped moving she made eye contact with him. Her innocent brown eyes were filled of lust.

"I think you're just mad that you got your ass kicked" she gloated, a proud little smirk on her face.

His eyes flickered with agitation. "Is that right?"

She nodded, "Uh-huh." She started to unbutton his shirt, starting from his collar and working her way down. "I think that you can't stand to lose Draco. To be precise, you can't stand not having your way..." she finished unbuttoning his shirt. She put her hands on top of his shoulders, inside of his shirt, and slid the sleeves down his arms; letting the shirt fall down to the ground.

"Maybe that's because I always get my way" he was watching her undress him. She was so sexy and confidant. When Pansy tried to undress him, her fingers fumbled and slipped constantly. She removed his clothes in an apologetic manner as if she was scared of ruining them. Hermione has a sense of control. He wanted to remove that sense of control by fucking her into the wall until she lost her mind.

"Is that right?"

He nodded with a smug look on his face.

"Hmph" she seemed amused by his arrogance. She kneeled down onto the floor, still in his robes. She reached her hands up and unbuttoned the top of his pants before sliding his zipper down. She let it reach the very bottom, letting his fly open. She reached her hand in and began to stoke him through his boxers. He was already hard for her. He let his eyes start to close as he felt his hand on her.

She watched him from below, making sure he was enjoying the sense of her touch. After a couple more strokes, she removed her hand, grabbed his zipper and pulled it back up assertively.

"Maybe I should just leave now and teach you a lesson that you don't always get what you want" she threatened.

"You'd have to get out of here first"

"Who's gonna keep me in?"

He stepped back in front of the door, closing her in. "Be my guest" he held out his arms, inviting her to try to leave.

"Draco, you and I both know that I have the control in this situation, and not you" she was practically laughing at him.

"Is that so? Let me change that then" he grabbed the end of her robe in his fist and pulled her aggressively against him. She gasped from his quick reflex as her body slammed against him.

Before she could even react he had pulled the quittich robe off of her body and threw it to the other side of the room. Just as he suspected, she had been completely nude under it,

Her nipples began to harden from being exposed to the open air of the room. He picked her up by her shoulders and fiercely kissed her. Her erect nipples pressed against his bare chest as his hands ventured up and teased them between his fingers until she started to moan against his lips.

Before Hermione could even realize what was happening, Draco had opened the door to the changing room, pulled her off of him, pushed her outside, and slammed the door; locking her out.

She was standing in the middle of the Slytherin locker room, absolutely stark naked.

"Draco!" she shrieked and tried to cover herself up with her hands. "Draco this is not funny, nor is it amusing in anyway! Let me back in!" she knocked her fist hard against the door.

"You said you wanted to leave"

"Give me the robe back:

"It's not yours Hermione. Like I said, you don't look good in green anyway."

"Give me my clothes then"

"I think I'll keep them as evidence that a Gryffindor broke into the Slytherin locker rooms."

"Draco, this is not funny. I think I hear someone coming" she started to panic.

Draco stopped chuckling and listened in. She was right, he could hear footsteps approaching. From what he could hear, he probably had another 30 seconds to fuck with her before some serious questions were asked.

"Draco" she whispered loudly. Whoever was coming, she didn't want them to hear her more than they already had.

He had his hand placed on the door handle, ready to let it fly open at any moment, but he wanted to wait just one more second.

"Please Draco. Fine you win. You have the bloody control. Let me in" she was angry. Good. Now they were both in foul moods. The perfect pair for a perfect day.

He opened the door quickly and pulled her in. He slammed the door shut behind him.

"Shh" he pressed his finger against his lips. She looked ready to lash out against him.

"Who's there?" the voice outside of the room asked.

Hermione glared at him. She walked to the other side of the changing room and started to put her clothes back on.

'What are you doing?' Draco mouthed.

Hermione stuck her middle finger up and mouthed, 'fuck you'

He rolled his eyes. 'Just stop' he mouthed, putting his hand up.

The person was walking around the room. "I'm a prefect. No one is allowed to be in here other than Slytherin quittich players'

'Wait' Draco whispered as Hermione started to throw her shirt on over her head.

He opened the door and stepped out. Completely forgetting he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"What's the problem?" he asked the prefect. He tried to make sure he had more authority in his voice than the Slytherin he was talking to.

"What are you doing in here?"

"I'm on the Slytherin quittich team, I'm allowed in here" he retorted angrily.

"That game is over though"

"No shit. I was going over drills late. Don't want to lose the next game too, now do we?"

The prefect looked him over suspiciously. 'Where's your shirt?"

"This is a changing room isn't it? I was changing when you barged in here like a paranoid nutcase. What did you think someone would be doing in here? It smells like body odor and grass" he tried to look repulsed.

The prefect was about to argue with him.

"If you want to find students shagging where they're not supposed to be, go check the broom closets or the bathrooms. Make yourself useful."

"I should probably make sure no one else is down here first"

"I'm the only one here. Everyone else went back to the common room. Now go"

He looked about to argue again.

"You do know that I'm head boy, don't you? Go now before I report to Snape that we need a new Slytherin prefect" he roared at him.

"Fine" the Slytherin prefect turned on his heel and walked back out of the room. Draco waited until he heard the door slam shut and could hear his footsteps fade out.

He turned aback round, Hermione was already dressed and outside of the changing room.

"I'm going back to the common room"

"The hell you are" he walked back to her and picked her up.

"Put me down"" she kicked against him as he carried her back into the changing room.

He closed the door with his foot.

"Shut up" he forced his mouth onto hers, muffling her protest. She bit him in an attempt to make him back off but it only turned him on. In fact, he bit her back.

He grabbed her legs and pulled one over his side so that she was straddling him and pushed her up against the wall.

"Malfoy get off" she struggled against him but couldn't make him move.

"I'm not going anywhere until you behave"

"We shouldn't be in here. He's probably going to come back with a professor."

"Let him, I don't care" he started to pull her shirt off. She tried to struggle against him but he won. He couldn't help the satisfied smile that overtook him from his little victory.

"This isn't funny anymore Draco. I don't want to get caught"

He reached back and removed her bra. "Maybe if you're quiet he'll think I left then" his hands began to grope her breast. They were so soft and full in his hands. He bounced them a little and let his thumbs stroke over her areolas.

"Maybe we should at least lock the door" she suggested desperately as he began to work her pants off of her.

He shook his head and threw her pants down. "I kind of like the risk of getting caught"

"Well I don't. It's very unsettling" he finally let her stand on her own two feet as he rolled her panties down her thighs.

"Seem a little tense granger" he poked suggestively. She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Don't be childish"

"I can be however I want to be." He stood back and pointed at his pants. "I undressed you. Now am I going to have to finish this myself or are you doing to finish what you started? This was, after all, your bright idea Granger"

She scowled at him. "Fine. You want to do this? Then we'll do it"

She angrily approached him and practically ripped his zipper down.

"Hey, careful" he warned.

She roughly pulled his pants down and he stepped out of them. She stood up and pushed her hand against his chest backing him up against the bench. When the back of his legs hit the edge she pushed him down until he was sitting on it.

He started to slide his fingers inside the elastic of his boxers and pull them down.

"Don't touch them" Hermione snapped at him.

He stopped and put his hands up in surrender.

"What are you going to do?" he asked intrigued.

"Whatever I want" she spread his legs open with her feet. He leaned back as she walked in between them. Her naked body was gorgeous. She had a perfect light olive complexion. Her skin looked like it radiantly glowed. He couldn't help himself; his hands reached out and ran his fingers down her curves.

She turned around and lowered himself onto his groin, pressing her perfect ass against him. She started to roll her hips and press back against him. His hands ran up and down her spine as she grinded against him.

He thought back to the previous night when Pansy had sat on his lap and attempted to arouse him. He scoffed at the idea. This was so much better.

She looked back at him over her shoulder. She could feel him hardening against her rolling. He had a hungry look on his face, like he was going to devour her any second. His hands kept roaming, reaching in front of her to caress her breast before dragging themselves back down her back as he grabbing her hips and ass.

"Like what you see?" she teased.

He licked his lips before biting his bottom lip. "Very much so"

She stopped teasing him and turned back around and descended on her knees. She pulled his boxers down to the floor. He had a raging erection and seemed very proud of it.

She grabbed it in her hand. It barely fit around. The second her fingers made contact with him his body tensed up a bit and looked at her eagerly.

She started to let her hand slide up and down on him. She squeezed her palm against his tip and pulled her hand back down. He started to lean back and moan. She leaned her head down and opened her mouth, letting her tongue lightly touch the tip of his erection. He moaned softly.

She licked up the center, slowly, torturing him. She did it a couple times more, slower each time. He reached forward and grabbed her hair and attempted to pull her down. She struggled for a second just to mess with him before she allowed him to force her mouth fully down onto him. She pushed herself down further before she had him deep throated. He let out a glottal moan as his hips raised up.

"Fuck…."

She let herself gag a little before coming back up. She took a breath and pushed herself back down onto him again. Sucking and bobbing her head up and down on him. She let her hand start to slide up and down as she worked him with her mouth. He started to moan more as her hand quickened its pace and her mouth sucked harder with each stroke.

"Stop, baby stop" he pulled her hair back up, moving her away. He didn't want to cum just yet.

She started to stand up again. He pulled her into him so that she was straddling one of his legs. He touched her folds to feel how wet she was, she was soaked.

She grabbed onto his shoulder and started to ride his thigh. He felt her wetness sliding up and down his leg as she let her clit rub against him. It was one of the hottest things he had ever seen as she started to moan, pleasuring herself.

She started to touch herself. She kept one hand bracing herself on his shoulder and used the other to play with her breasts. She licked her fingers and brought the wetness down to her nipple, rolling it between her fingers until it got harder. Draco felt his mouth water as he watched her. She looked him right in the eye as she continued to ride his leg and touch herself. She was assertive and gorgeous. That look she was giving him was driving him wild.

He pulled at her leg, coaxing her closer. She slid up his legs and continued to grind until she was right up to his hips. He lifted her up and pulled her over him. He grabbed hold and aligned himself with her opening. She grabbed onto him with both hands as he lowered her down. She moaned out loudly as she felt him sinking deep within her.

"Oh my god" she gasped. He smiled; it was like new every time.

She looked at him, her eyes seemed glossed from the sensation of being penetrated. Her glance only lasted a moment before her head flew back as he started to pump into her.

She grabbed onto him tighter as she continued to gyrate against his thrust. Bouncing her hips up and down as she rode him.

He stopped thrusting for a minute and just watched her have her way with him. She didn't slow down. She actually picked up her pace in order to compensate for his lack of motion. He watched as she lifted herself up and let herself slide back down onto him again and again.

"Fuck me" she begged. He lost himself for a minute, watching the show in front of him. She was so tantalizing.

He picked her up in his arms, walked her across the room and pressed her back up against the wall before thrusting back up into her. He held her in his arms and forced her up and down onto him aggressively.

"Oh God Draco, Yesss" she cried out as he fucked her faster and faster. She reached her arm up and slapped her hand against the wall as she started to lose control. He reached his arm up and pulled her hand back down, entwined it with his own. He leaned in and kissed her as he pulled her arm around him to hold onto him. His hands were caressing every inch of her body he could find as he fucked her up the wall.

"I'm so close" she gasped.

He bit her shoulder as he groaned; he could feel her tightening against him as his orgasm started to approach

She cried out suddenly as her head flew back. She was cumming. He continued to thrust forcibly into her until he felt his own climax shooting through.

They were both panting with lust as she slowly lowered her legs and touched the floor. Her legs were shaking. He could feel it. He couldn't help but smile.

He kissed her passionately, pulling her body close against his.

"I can't get enough of you" he said in between a kiss.

There it was again, that damn butterfly feeling. She hated it, it complicated so many things. She couldn't let herself fall for Malfoy. She wouldn't fall in love with someone who was going to just leave her for a girl like Pansy Parkinson. The last hour they had shared had been incredible but she broke the moment with a question.

"Why do you say things like that?"

He stopped smiling, "What do you mean?"

She shrugged, "Why do you say things like saying that you can't get enough of me?"

He touched her hip and let his hands wander. "Because It's true. You're addicting. Why? Do I make you uncomfortable?"

She shrugged again. Grr, she felt like a stupid girl. She wasn't like that. She was level headed and had control of her emotions. "I dunno"

He smirked charmingly at her, "Am I too much for you?"

She laughed, "As if. I was just curious is all."

He kissed her again. "Don't worry, I'm not in love with you"

She looked up at him, surprised he had even brought up the 'L' word. "I know that" she defended herself.

"You can fall in love with me all you want though. Every other girl in this school does"

"Don't you wish" she laughed and started to get dressed. She was beginning to feel too vulnerable.

"Well, you are available now that Weasley's found Brown" said Draco as he began to get dressed as well.

"I was available before that" she defended herself.

"Sure, if you say so" he packed his quittich robe away. He wasn't going to forget it this time.

"I am available, unlike you Draco. Everyone knows that Pansy has a little ball and chain around you."

"She wishes"

"If you say so" Hermione shot back at him. She gave him a quick kiss, "Thanks"

"Anytime"

She walked out of the locker room first and disappeared down the hall.

Draco walked out after her and remembered that he had lost a game that day. The scowl returned to his face as he headed to the common room. He still wanted to be left alone. Granger was his only exception. The only one.

A:N/ Thanks for reading! I love the reviews. Keep reviewing! It motivates me to keep writing. Yay! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's one of my favorites so far. x


	6. The Ring

Since the school already knew about them, thanks to Pansy and Draco; Ron and Lavender decided to make their relationship official and public. Over the last few weeks Ron had become increasingly annoying to Hermione. He was just so damn happy all of the time. It made her want to punch him in the face.

Not to mention Lavender was constantly around them now. Harry didn't seem too fond of their pairing either. It wasn't that they didn't want Ron to be happy. They just didn't understand why he couldn't have been happy with someone else.

Lavender was completely irritating in every way, from the pitch of her voice to the atrocious nick names she gave Ron on a daily basis.

Ron walked into the Great Hall that morning and started to walk towards Hermione. Lavender wasn't with him. Thank god. Hermione quickened the pace at which she ate hoping to finish her meal before Lavender eventually arrived.

Her nose scrunched up as Ron sat down next to her.

"Ron, what are you wearing?" asked Hermione, repulsed. She felt like she was going to gag.

"It's new. It's a cologne that Lavender got for me. You don't like it?" asked Ron concerned. He lifted his wrist up to his nose to double check the scent.

Hermione scooted herself away from him. "Not to be rude but…it smells horrible Ron."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't tell her that. She made it herself for me." he nodded towards the front end of the table. Hermione hadn't noticed her come into the Great Hall. Lavender was standing near the end saying something to another student. She looked up at Ron, noticing that he was looking her way. She waved at him and then blew him a kiss.

Ron caught it in his hand and placed it over his heart as he winked at her.

Disgusting.

Lavender started to make her way over. Hermione couldn't even finish her food after being subjected that horrid smell Ron and Lavender called cologne. Death would have been a more appropriate word to describe the scent. She excused herself and rushed out of the hall.

As soon as she had stood up, she realized that she had to pee like her life deepened on it. She practically ran to the nearest bathroom. She thanked Merlin that there wasn't a line and rushed into the nearest stall.

She was slightly embarrassed with herself as she washed her hands. She always paid pretty good attention to her body and she couldn't come up with a reason why she had nearly lost control like that. She dried her hands off with a towel and shrugged it off.

It was Saturday, so she didn't have any classes. She considered how she wanted to spend her day. She could go to the library and get some studying done. Or should could be social and spend some time with Harry and Ginny. But there was always be the chance that Ron and Lavender would be with them. Her noise scrunched up at the thought. She decided that the library was to be her sanctuary that weekend.

/

She spent so much time in the library that day that she nearly forgot to go down to the great hall for dinner. She had completely read herself through lunch. If her stomach hadn't started to growl she would have read through dinner as well.

She closed the books she had stacked in front of her and began to put them back. After she double checked that she had put everything back in it's right place on the shelves, she started to walk towards the door.

Draco was sitting at a table near the library entrance with Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Look who it is" Blaise called her out.

She rolled her eyes and stopped in her tracks. She knew she should have just kept walking but she didn't.

"Try not to dirty the floor too much on your way out mudblood. You're getting your filth everywhere as it is" Blaise spat at her. The all laughed, even Draco.

"What are you lot up to? Teaching each other to read? It might help you to have someone in your lot that actually knows how." She retorted sharply.

Blaise, Goyle and Crabbe glared at her. But not Draco. Draco was giving her this wolf like stare that said, 'I'm going to devour you as soon as we're alone'. Her toes curled as she felt her love start to pour down and her thighs quiver. She hated the he could mentally fuck with her without saying a word. Not a single damn word.

She felt her cheeks flush. He chuckled.

Fuck him.

"I gotta tell you mudblood, I can't wait for this war to hit a peak so that I can watch you get put into your proper place" Blaise responded.

"I don't think you_ really_ want that Blaise. See, My proper place far exceeds yours and I don't think you'd respond well to a 'mudblood' having more power and intelligence than you'll ever be capable of." She retorted.

Blaise stood up and had his wand drawn, "Do you want to test that mudblood? I'll show you who the better wizard is right here, right now"

This was getting stupid. She wasn't in the mood to duel anyone and she was going to miss dinner if she stayed much longer.

"Blaise, all things in time" said Draco, sensing she was anxious to leave. His eye contact didn't leave her figure the entire conversation.

Blaise smiled, "you're going to die mudblood. Guarantee it." He sat back down.

Hermione didn't want to let him get to her but she couldn't help the queasy flip she felt in her stomach when he said that. She hadn't eaten since that morning and she felt like she was going to be sick.

"We'll just have to see, now wont we?" she snapped and rushed out of the library.

She barely made it to the Great Hall for dinner. There wasn't much left but there were enough selections remaining that she cared for. At least she could eat in peace. There weren't very many people left in the hall.

She was still eating when some of the professors came into the Hall and began to place decorations up for Christmas. She had almost forgotten. Students would be leaving for Christmas break soon. She always spent Christmas break with her family.

Then she remembered that she hadn't gotten gifts for anyone yet. She always got something for Harry and Ron, of course. She had intended on getting something for Ginny this year, but there was no way in hell Lavender was getting anything from her. Especially, since she had created most revolting fragrance in the history of the world for Ron to wear on a regular basis. Her gift could be the fact the Hermione wasn't going to kill her.

/

They had a trip to Hogsmeade scheduled the week before Christmas break. Hermione made sure to take advantage of it and picked up a few last minute Christmas gifts.

She had all the presents she was about to purchase in her shopping basket when a thought struck her. Should she get a gift for Draco?

They weren't dating and they never would date so she wasn't sure it would be appropriate. Not to mention, it might raise questions with other people. Also, it would be kind of awkward if she got him a gift and he hadn't gotten her one in return…wouldn't it?

She wrested with the idea for a minute or so and decided that she would get him something small just in case. Better to be prepared right?

She found a ring that caught her eye. That was technically a "small" gift right? Even if it was slightly expensive. She picked it up and examined it further. It had a snake that literally slithered across the band. It was perfect.

She purchased it. If she didn't end up giving it to him she could just return it. No big deal.

She felt good about her decision as she walked out of the store and back out onto the street.

A:N/ I know, this chapter is short. But the next one is long so it makes up for it! Thanks for reading, keep reviewing! And make sure to check out my other fanfiction- Torn. Thanks!


	7. Christmas Cheer

Hermione gave Ron, Harry and Ginny their Christmas presents early. She told them that they couldn't be opened until Christmas. The enchanted wrapping paper guaranteed that so they shouldn't even try. Ron, especially, was disappointed with that news.

She said goodbye to everyone. She was going to be leaving for her parent's house first thing in the morning. It was fortunate that Lavender wasn't following Ron around that afternoon. She was able to take her time and say goodbye to each of her friends properly. Ron hadn't even worn that wretched perfume that day. She pointed it out to him.

"You smell bearable today" she teased him as he hugged her.

"For the moment. I have to meet Lavender before dinner so I'll have to put it back on."

"How can she stand that stuff?"

He laughed, "She told me yesterday that the perfume is charmed to make me smell repulsive to other girls. So if you think I smell like a wet dog then it must be working"

"Oh wow, really? That's trust for ya" she teased.

"Yeah well…it's a small sacrifice" Ron shrugged his shoulders and lightly blushed.

"If you say so Ron" she laughed and gave him another hug. "You have a good Christmas"

"You too Hermione. Take care of yourself"

"I will"

She left the common room and walked up to her room to pack for the next day. Halfway through packing she had to stop and pause for a moment. She was hit with another wave a nausea. She steadied herself, holding onto her stomach. She tried to breathe slowly and calm down, but she lost that battle. It took her only three steps to rush into the bathroom and vomit.

"Grrr, great. I get to be sick for Christmas." She steadied herself over the counter waiting for another wave of nausea to pass. It came and went without her needing to puke again.

She took a deep breath, brushed her teeth and returned to packing. She was grateful that the sick feeling didn't seem to linger. It would just hit her like a ton of bricks and then pass as quickly as it left. It was really odd. On top of that, she had to pee constantly. It was driving her nuts. Maybe she was stressed and dehydrated. It wouldn't be the first time she fretted herself into getting sick.

Everything was ready to go for tomorrow. The only person who hadn't gotten their gift yet was Draco. She still wasn't sure whether she was going to give it to him or not. She might not even see him before the break. She knew he was going to his parent's for Christmas as well. She assumed he would be spending the last of his time with Pansy.

She passed the rest of the night reading a new book she had picked up for herself in Hogsmeade. She looked over at the clock. It was already past midnight. She was going to be leaving in just eight hours. She needed to get to bed. She put the book away on her nightstand and went to take a shower.

Her shower was fast and quick. She wrapped a towel around her body and another around her hair and stepped out of the bathroom.

She had a visitor.

Draco was lying down on her bed looking through the book she had just set down.

"Hi" she greeted him with a tone that said, 'I wasn't expecting you'

He finished the sentence he was reading before he looked up to her. "Hey." His eyes ran up and down her body. "Nice outfit" he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you have to leave in the morning?"

"Yeah, so?"

"It's 12:30"

"I'm aware. I wanted to see you before I left. But if you want me to go, I can leave" he swung his legs back over the edge of the bed like he was preparing to stand up.

"No, you don't have to go." She said quickly before he got up. "I just…I wasn't expecting you is all"

"Sure you weren't." he pulled out a ring box from behind his back. "So this little box with my name on it was just for a decoration then?"

She blushed. She had left the gift out with the assumption that she would be the only person in her room that night.

"You got me a gift?" Draco smiled, "That's really sweet Hermione. Am I allowed to open it or do I have to wait 'til Christmas?"

She might as well let him have it. This way, at least, she could see if he actually liked it.

"Sure, go ahead. Open it."

He ripped off the wrapping in one tear and opened the box. He pulled out the ring and slid it onto his finger. The band was enchanted to Hermione didn't need to worry about it fitting him or not. He raised his hand up and looked around at it, craning his neck to follow the snake as is slid around his finger. He didn't say anything, he just watched it.

Hermione broke the silence, "So…what do you think of it?" she was still standing there, in nothing but her towels.

He looked at it for another moment before letting a smile come across his features. "I love it. Thank you" he stood up and walked up to her; placing a hand onto her barely covered hip. He reached his hand back and pulled the towel down from her hair, releasing her wet curls. Her hair cascaded down her back and rested on her shoulders. He looked at her as he ran his hand through her wet locks.

"Thank you" he repeated himself before he crushed his lips against hers. She almost dropped her towel as she moaned into his lips. He put his other hand on the small of her back and pressed her body against his. He pressure from his chest against hers held her towel up and allowed her to remove her hands and wrap them around him as their kiss deepened.

He broke off the kiss but he didn't step back. He pulled her in closer, tightening the grip he had on her.

"I didn't get you anything-"he admitted.

"I don't care" she shook her head and her curls flew back and forth. "I'm just glad you're here" she reconnected their lips. Draco pushed his tongue past her lips and they tangled together in a frenzy of passion. She felt him pull her bottom lip out with his teeth and bite down gently. She moaned into his lips before closing their kiss again.

His hands started to get frisky. She felt him reached down and run his hands up from her thigh to her ass, gripping it in his hand with a squeeze.

"Draco" she lightly scolded.

He gently shook his head, "It's not my fault you have the perfect ass" he slapped her ass this time. She screamed out as the tingling ran up her spine from the sharp sensation.

She stopped his hands before they started to get more adventurous. "I have to be up in a few hours Draco"

"I know that you have to get up early but you're not going to sleep until I've thanked you properly for my gift"

She stopped fighting him. She didn't know why she had made the excuse. She didn't care if she was tired in the morning. Even if she had to pull an all-nighter it would be worth having him here with her tonight.

She stepped back and let her body towel fall down to the floor. Draco's eyes twinkled with mischief as he gave her an approving smile. His look told her that he wanted to devour her right there and then.

"You're fucking gorgeous, you know that Hermione?" he proclaimed, putting his hangs back on her.

There it was again that damn butterfly feeling. She didn't stop it this time. This time she would indulge. It was the Christmas season after all.

His lips clasped onto her neck as his tongue stroked a path down to the front of her chest. His hands pushed themselves up and began to knead her breasts. She started to moan and let her hands cling onto him, running her fingers through his soft blonde hair as she tried to pull his lips back up to her favorite spot on her neck. He defied her and continued moving down to her breast before flicking one of her nipples into his mouth.

She sharply gasped. It was almost painful.

"Stop biting"

"I'm not biting" he said against her chest. He kissed her nipple and sucked it back into his mouth. She shut her eyes and tried to enjoy the feeling but it was just too painful. She roughly pulled him back by his hair. "Don't"

He looked up at her confused. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. It just-it doesn't feel good tonight"

"Do you want me to stop?" he stepped back.

"No, not all together. Just leave these alone tonight, please?" she said as she picked up her breast and let them fall back down.

He smiled at her, amused with what she had done. "Do that again, I love it when you touch yourself" he teased.

She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm. "Stop that"

"No seriously, I love the idea of watching you touch yourself" his voice got heated at the idea.

"I'm not going to let you watch me masturbate Draco"

"Why not?"

"Because- because that's just weird"

""It's not weird"

"Yes it is. Just, can we focus again?" she pleaded. She felt bad enough that she had responded the way she did to his affections. She loved the way he would worship her body. She had never responded negatively to it before.

She walked up to him and started to release him from his shirt, trying to focus him. It was off in moments. She placed kisses across his chest as her hands undid his belt and pulled it out from the belt loops. It took her seconds to undo his pants and pull them down, letting his boxers slide down with them.

As soon as he was naked, he took control back from her. He threw her back down onto her bed and climbed on top of her as he began to conquer her neck. She melted under him completely surrendering to his touch.

"I love it when you touch me there" she moaned as he began to suck on her neck. She felt herself getting wet. Draco had let his hands run down her body and slide between her legs as he fondled her.

He let two of his fingers slide inside her and began to finger her. Her chest arched up against his as she began to moan beneath him. He sucked at her neck harder and started to bite.

She felt his other hand slide up her arm and take hold of her hand. He pulled her hand down between them and pulled it further down.

"I want you to touch yourself" he pressed, whispering in her ear; finally let his lips detach from her neck. He left an incredible hickie behind.

"Draco-"she began to protest. He shut his lips over hers to quiet her as he removed his fingers from inside her.

He knelt back, sitting between her legs to where he had a perfect view of her. He took her hand and placed it on herself and gave her a wanting look.

"Just a little. Humor me"

She felt embarrassed but she knew he wasn't going to let off of the idea until she at least tried.

"I really need to stop letting you have your way all of the time" she pointed out.

"Maybe, but not tonight" he said with a smile. He looked so eager for her to start.

She sighed and lay back, closing her eyes. She was trying to shut the idea out of her mind that he was there watching her.

She softly stroked herself, feeling her own wetness. She couldn't believe how turned on he made her. She spread her lips and got her finger wet before pressing it against her clit. She started to rub in a circular motion, slowly at first, before she picked up speed.

Draco licked his tongue slowly across his lips as he watched her begin.

She moved her fingers away from her clit and sunk one deep inside of herself and started to slowly bring it in and back out. Draco watched her hand, mesmerized as he saw the glistening of her wetness on her fingers.

She took another finger and pushed it back inside as she pressed it up. She couldn't help the moan that escaped her lips. She let her other hand come down and start to play with her clit as she fingered herself.

She felt Draco's warm hand start to touch her inner thighs and began to finger herself faster. She pushed her wrist in deeper and her moaning picked up.

She lost track of time as she worked herself with her hands. She was really starting to enjoy herself. She didn't care if Draco was in the room, she didn't care if he was watching her. Let him watch, this felt too good to stop.

Her focus was broke from the sound of moaning. She craned her neck up and looked forward between her legs. Draco was starting to touch himself, stroking his hand up and down.

"Like what you see Mr. Malfoy?"

He smirked at her and kept stroking.

She pulled her fingers out and raised them to her mouth, sucking her juices off. His mouth gaped open a bit more. She knew he loved it when she did that.

"You're such a dirty girl" he growled.

She giggled and smiled for a moment. She settled down and looked at him with a sensual stare.

"Fuck me Draco" she ordered.

He didn't need to be told twice. He crawled on top of her and spread her legs open a bit wider as he entered her.

His mouth latched back onto her neck as it flew back predictably as she gasped his name out at the sense of his penetration.

She thought her moaning would never end as he thrust into her again and again. Leaning his hips back and pushing back forward. He pressed himself in deeper with every hit.

Her thigh rose up and her legs wrapped around his waist. He reached back and pulled her legs up higher, securing her hold on him.

"Do you think of me when you touch yourself at night?" Draco whispered hotly into her ear.

If Hermione were to tell the truth, it would be that she rarely ever masturbated. But the truth wasn't much fun. So, she decided to play along, "Every night" she whispered alluringly.

He moaned out and started to move faster picturing her lying in bed at night, her hands between her legs as she moaned his name out.

"Do you think of me when you fuck her?" she whispered back hotly into his ear.

He felt like a deer caught in headlights. He buried his face into the nape of her neck and furiously worked at it. He didn't want her to see that he was turning bright red. It was obvious that she wasn't trying to call him out or anything, but unknowingly-she had.

She felt his entire body tense. She had stepped on a button. Her heart began to beat rapidly against her chest. It was as if her heart beat and her butterflies were flying around chaotically with each other inside her chest. Suddenly she felt a glow of pride as her smile stretched from her to ear.

She grabbed onto his hair and forced him to look at her. She had never in her life believed she would catch Draco in a blush. "You do don't you?" her smile widened.

He bit his lip in frustration. He felt himself begin to smile, nervous from being caught.

"Don't you?" she repeated. The idea of him fucking Pansy repulsed her. But the idea of him thinking of her while he did it turned her on.

"Do I really need to answer that?" he begged.

She nodded her head, "Oh yeah". He had pushed her out of her comfort zone, now he could repay the favor.

They had both stopped moving. He licked his lips, they felt dry. He averted his gaze to look at the sheets beneath them. Anywhere but her eyes and that Cheshire smile that was planted on her face as she looked at him eagerly, waiting for his response.

Hermione took her nail and ran it slowly up his spine. "Draco…" she cooed. He looked back at her with those piercingly gray eyes.

"You think of me when you fuck your girlfriend don't you? Just admit it"

"Fine. You want to know the truth? I think of you every time; .. In fact, I have to think of you just to get turned on enough to fuck her." He blurted out. After he admitted it, he began to laugh. He was nuts. He couldn't believe he was telling her this.

It was the best present she could get. Having confirmation that she had an effect on Draco and that she was able to mess with his emotions in return.

"Why are you even with her?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Hermione, I really don't' want to talk about this right now. Let's just finish this and then we can talk all you want okay?" he loved to think of Hermione when he was with Pansy. But thinking of Pansy when he was with Hermione was a completely different thing. He was still hard inside of her and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Ok, sorry" she focused again, leaning up and sealing her lips against his. He responded immediately, pressing her back against the pillow as she leaned into their kiss. He started to move his hips once more, thrusting back and forth against her.

"I love the way you feel inside of me" she told him; her tone translating into a rasp moan.

"I love the way it feels to be inside of you" he kissed her over and over again; rapidly pressing his lips and releasing them. He couldn't stop kissing her. Her lips were too luscious, too delicious, too soft to resist. He ran his tongue across her top lip and kissed her. Then he ran his tongue across her bottom lip and kissed her again before diving his tongue between the two.

Hermione couldn't think. Her brain was buzzing from the way he was making love to her lips and her hips at the same. There was no getting enough of the way he tasted. There was no getting enough of the way he touched her, the way he smelled, the sound of his voice. It was all so intoxicating. She wanted to be drunk on the essence of him every single day of her life.

"I'm so close Draco" she gasped.

She could feel his groaning buzz against her neck as his mouth worked at her favorite spot again.

"Don't stop" she begged. She needed just a little more of him, just a bit more. "Ohh god" her hands grasped his hair in desperation, needing to cling onto anything as she teetered over the edge of ecstasy.

"Please Draco, don't stop. Keep going" she thrust her hips up to meet his down thrust. She licked her fingers and placed them down onto her clit and furiously began to rub. She felt it start to pulse and knew she was about to come. Her head fell back into the pillow, "Draco"

"Hermione" he moaned out her name as her hips bucked against him and her orgasm crashed through her. Draco aggressively grabbed onto her hips and plowed through her until he felt release.

He pulled out of her and rolled over to lie down beside her. His arm wrapped around her waist as he pulled her in against his body. Draco's chest rose up and fell back down as he caught his breath.

Hermione rolled onto her side and leaned her body against his. His fingers ran through her hair as he kissed her forehead.

She let her hand wander as her fingers drew across his chest. This was the most relaxed she had felt in a long time. Draco's eyes began to droop as she held her warm body close against his.

"That was incredible by the way" Hermione broke the silence after a few minutes.

"It always is, isn't it?" he smirked as he looked down at her. She looked up and met his gaze.

"It really is though. You're amazing" she loved to puff up his ego every once in a while. His confidence was sexy even when it bordered on arrogance. If it meant throwing a compliment around to him once in a while to maintain it, then so be it. She wasn't lying. He had an incredible performance.

"Do you still want me to answer your question?" Draco asked as he ran his fingers down the spirals of her curls.

"What question?" she had completely forgotten she had asked a question. You lose some thoughts after having your mind blown.

He chuckled. His chest bounced her head slightly as it lay in the crook of his arm. "You asked me why I'm even with Pansy?" he reminded her.

"Oh yeah. Yeah, you should still answer that"

"I guess it's because…"he thought for a second, "I have to be."

She felt his shoulders shrug beneath her. "What do you mean you have to be? You don't _have_ to be with anyone."

"I have obligations to fulfill. I'm expected to be dating right now and I have to date a pureblood witch. Eventually I'll have to marry one and I guess Pansy and I make sense"

"You make sense in what universe?"

"In the universe outside of this room…in the fucked up universe that exist outside of you being in my arms' he pulled her in tighter against him and pressed his lips furiously back onto her forehead.

Those damn butterflies were back and were fluttering like they had been injected with adrenaline.

"I know that you care about me Hermione. But we can't let this be more than what it is"

"And what is this?" she wasn't sure if she could breathe at that moment as she looked up at him. He was gorgeous.

He shrugged. "I don't know" he admitted, 'but whatever it is. It's not reality."

"It could be-"

"No it couldn't be" he shook his head vigorously. "And you know why Hermione. No matter what you feel about me, no matter what I feel about you. We could never be."

"What if I had been born pureblood?" her voice had tenseness to it. She was started to get emotional. She checked herself, pulling herself back. She didn't want him to feel bad for not being able to change the ways of the world. Things were the way they were, there wasn't any changing it. At least not right then, not in that moment. There was no point in tears.

"There's no point in talking like that" his voice sounded strained, "Because you weren't"

"Do you wish I had been?"

"I don't really want to talk about this" he avoided the question.

"Sorry"

"You don't need to be sorry. I just don't want to talk about it anymore." He started to sit up. She moved off of him.

"I should go" he caressed her lips with his finger before placing his lips onto them. His kiss was soft, warm and gentle.

"Thank you for the ring." He pressed his forehead against hers like he wanted to press his thoughts into her mind. Her head leaned down against his in return. He shut his eyes at the same time she shut hers. "I don't want to admit to you what it means to me," his hand found hers and held onto it. "I think you already know what it means to me. I'm not going to take it off. I promise. As long as I'm wearing it, you can know that Pansy doesn't mean anything to me. Not Pansy or any other stupid girl I might end up with." He planted another kiss on her lips before moving his head away.

The bed felt lighter as he stood up and started to get dressed. Hermione sat there, frozen, with her eyes closed. She couldn't' move, she couldn't breathe. She wasn't sure if that last moment was real or how she felt about. Even the butterflies inside of her were frozen in that moment in time.

"Hermione?" Draco broke her trance. He was fully dressed and ready to go. "You should try to get a couple hours of sleep in."

"Do I even want to know what time it is?" her eyes were still shut.

He chuckled, "Probably not. But was it worth the loss of sleep?"

She looked at him and smiled, "Always"

He smiled back at her. They shared a moment, just holding that gaze between them. He walked forward and gave her a final kiss before he turned back around to head for the door.

Draco paused as he grabbed the door knob, ready to turn it and walk out. "Oh and Hermione"

She looked back up at him.

"Yeah Draco?"

She smiled at him with those perfect teeth.

"God I love your smile" he admitted out loud without thinking.

"Thanks" she blushed slightly and felt her smile increase.

He focused his thoughts again and continued, "Have a Good Christmas"

"You too Draco"

He slipped through the door and was gone.

A:N/ Hope you enjoyed the Chapter! Please remember to review, review, review!


	8. Unexpected Gifts

Christmas with her parents had been perfect. Her father made breakfast early that morning. Pancakes shaped like Christmas trees. He had made the same breakfast every Christmas since Hermione was a little girl. They were always soft and delicious. He sprinkled a tad bit of cinnamon and sugar into the mix and made them absolutely perfect.

After their meal they opened presents next to the Christmas tree. Her favorite gift had been a piece of jewelry from both her mother and father. It was a silver bracelet with her birthstone embedded in it. It was simple and beautiful. She loved it. Hermione put it on as soon as she had taken it out of the box. It suited her perfectly.

When all the presents had been opened she helped her mother to clear the living room of boxes and torn wrapping paper.

She was bent over picking up a wad of wrapping paper when she felt queasy again.

"Hermione dear, are you feeling well?" her mother asked, noting her moment of pause.

She wasn't sure. She waited another moment before it hit her again. She shook her head no, dropped the paper back down onto the floor and rushed to the bathroom. She kneeled over the toilet and threw up. She felt terrible. Another wave of nausea hit her and she continued to vomit.

What was going on with her? Her body had felt so off the past few weeks. It was beginning to frustrate her and now it had put a bend on her perfect Christmas morning with her parents.

After she was sure she was finished, she rinsed her mouth with mouth wash and returned to help her mother continue cleaning. The living room was already spotless by the time she came back out. She hadn't realized how long she had been in bathroom being ill.

"Are you sick sweetheart?" her mother looked to her with concern. She walked up and pressed the back of her hand against her forehead and frowned, "you don't have a fever"

"I think I'm just really stressed out from school mom. My body has just been off. I even missed my period last week-", Hermione froze.

The words choked her. She had missed her period. Obviously, she had been aware of that but it hadn't seemed as serious until she said out loud.

Her mother didn't notice her awkward pause. "Well, make sure you're taking breaks. You work yourself too hard sometimes. You're just like your father" she tsk-ed her teeth as she shook her head. Her mother outstretched her hand and gently caressed her daughter's cheek. "You're the perfect daughter Hermione. You really are" her mother wrapped her up in her arms and hugged her tightly.

Hermione didn't know why but she had tears in her eyes. She held her mom closer and started to cry. She couldn't control her emotions.

"It's alright sweetheart. It's your last year of school. You barely have a semester left. You've done so well and you'll continue to do so till the end. I know you'll be successful in whatever it is you chose to do after school" her mother cooed.

"I'm sorry I'm crying mom, I don't know what came over me" Hermione pulled herself away and wiped her tears off onto her sleeve. "I'm going to go lay down"

"Ok dear. Make sure you're drinking plenty of water"

"I will mom"

Hermione excused herself and went up to her room. Her room was too small. She felt like the walls were closing in on her. It was suffocating.

She was getting sick frequently, she had to pee every five minutes, she was nauseous all of the time, she was so sensitive that Draco could barely touch her the night before and she had missed her period.

Everything started to fall into place and she didn't realize how she hadn't noticed it earlier.

She shook her head aggressively, trying to shake away the thought. It was stupid; what she was thinking. She was jumping to conclusions. She and Draco had been cautious. They weren't stupid. They knew how to protect themselves.

But still…precautions weren't guarantees…

But the chances that anything had happened were ridiculous. .she probably was just really stressed from school and over reacting. She did that all of the time.

But her body had never responded like this before…

She juggled with the idea for a while before she caved in.

She was going to buy a pregnancy test.

As smart as she was, Hermione had no idea what witches normally did to find out about these kinds of things. And she wasn't in the mood to be doing research. She wanted an answer as soon as possible to settle her worries.

She opened the door to her room and walked out and back through the living room.

"Hermione?" said her mother.

"I'll be back mom. Just need to pick up some medicine from the pharmacy"

"Do you want me to come with you dear? Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm fine mom. I'm going to walk. It's just a few blocks" Hermione opened the door and walked out of her house and started to walk down the sidewalk towards the general store.

She was probably overreacting. It had to be highly unlikely that she was pregnant. Hermione wasn't even sure why she was entertaining the idea. It was probably just a bad virus going around that was making her paranoid.

Her hands wouldn't stop shaking as she continued to walk.

What if she was pregnant though and there really was a small child growing inside of her? She sharply clutched onto her stomach. The thought made her want to get ill. It was too overwhelming, too scary to think of.

Hermione could face the dark lord or any death eater in the face of immediate danger but she couldn't come to terms with the idea of being a mother to anybody. Not right now. Not for another...twelve years, at least.

She didn't remember the general store being this far away before. She walked faster.

How disappointed would her parents be? She could hear her mother's voice replay in her head already. '_You're the perfect daughter'._

Chea, the perfect daughter who gets knocked up by the son of a death eater while still in school. Some perfect daughter.

Her father would hate her. He was a perfectionist, just like she was. Sure, he was kind and he was a great dad. But it would absolutely break his heart if his daughter got pregnant this way.

The general store was within eye sight. Hermione practically went into a sprint as she rushed up to the double doors and went inside. She looked around for the right aisle and darted towards it. She grabbed three different pregnant tests just to be safe and walked up to check out.

Grateful that she had some muggle money left in her wallet, she paid the cashier and ran back home. She stopped running about a block away from her house. She didn't want to cause any suspicion from her parents.

After her breathing leveled back out she took a deep breath and walked back inside. She forgot to pick up the medicine she said she'd left for. Shoot.

"Did you find what you needed sweetheart?" asked her mother.

"Yes" she raised the bag up so her mom could see she had actually gone to the store. She was grateful their store bags weren't transparent. "I'm going to take some of the medicine and lay down. I'll come back down in time for dinner."

"Ok sweetie" her mother went back to her crossword puzzle.

Hermione resisted the urge to run upstairs to the bathroom and made herself slowly walk up the stairs. Her heart was beating in her ears as she closed the bathroom door and made sure it was locked.

One, two, three. She pulled each test out and read the directions. They were basically the same.

This was just a silly experiment. That's all this was. That's what she told herself to keep herself from growing hysterical as she pulled each test out of its box and followed the directions accordingly.

When she was done, she set each on the counter and then sat down on the floor. Her legs were shaking. She couldn't stop twitching, from being so nervous. Her lip was starting to get numb from her biting it so much.

She looked at her wristwatch, it had been two minutes. She had thirteen to go.

She paused. There were footsteps approaching the bathroom. Her heart raced as they got closer to the door. She couldn't leave the bathroom for another thirteen minutes and she wouldn't be able to explain why.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the footsteps proceeded to pass the door and head into the office at the end of the hall.

It was probably her father. He was most likely researching some new dental procedure he would have to perform at his job so he would stay preoccupied until dinner. She wouldn't have to worry about him interrupting her.

She checked her watch again. Ten more minutes.

She shut her eyes and tried to think of something else. Every minute seemed to drag on and on. She thought about quidditch, about Harry, about Ron. She thought about Lavender's disgusting perfume and wondered what potion and charms she had used to make it. She thought about the war and wondered what Voldemort was doing at the moment to try to rise back into power. She thought about every single thing outside of the moment she was currently experiencing on the floor of her parent's bathroom.

She peeked down at her watch. Time was up. She stared up at the three little sticks dangling over the counter above her. She couldn't tear her eyes away. She concentrated on them and hoped she could will them to show the result she hoped for.

She shut her eyes and muttered, "Negative, negative, negative"

Hermione held the first one in her hand. It was shaking. She kept muttering her prayer over and over again, "negative, negative, negative..."

Her heart was thumping against her chest. She took a deep breath and felt as if she was jumping off the edge of a cliff as she forced her wrist to flip over the little stick in the palm of her hand.

Instead of looking at it, she shut her eyes tighter.

"Please be negative. I'll do anything. Absolutely anything" she pleaded. She didn't believe in God, but she was willing to believe in anything that would be willing to help her out in that very moment of desperation.

Slowly she found enough courage to lower her head and look down at the stick in her hand.

Her heart skipped a beat.

…Positive.

It read positive.

Her heart began to race and panic started to course through her veins.

"No, Hermione, don't freak out. That's why you bought three. Sometimes these things can be wrong…right?"

She grabbed the second one and flipped it over. Positive.

"Damnit"

She grabbed the last one in desperation and flipped it over as well. Positive.

The stupid little plus sign glared up at her. No matter how much she glared back it didn't change. It absolutly refused to move.

She threw the stupid stick against the wall and fell back down onto the floor in tears.

What was she going to do?

/

Hermione was a nervous wreck as she stepped out of the bathroom. She was shaken to her core. She walked in a trance back into her room and laid down her bed with her eyes wide open.

She was pregnant.

She was pregnant with Draco Malfoy's child.

Her eyes shut tightly and soon flooded over with tears. Desperation overwhelmed her, she felt like her life was over.

What were her friends going to say? Harry and Ron would be livid. They would hate her; probably never talk to her again.

Sleeping with the enemy, literally, was one thing. Having their unborn child growing inside of you; was another.

She pulled her covers over her shoulders and held onto herself. What would she tell Draco?

She pictured him standing in front of her, imagined his face and felt choked up. There's no way she could tell him. They couldn't even openly admit they had feelings for one another. If he couldn't date a girl of an inferior blood line publically, he sure as hell couldn't have a child with one.

She was distraught. At least when she went downstairs she would look as sick as her mother thought she was…

A:N/ This is the Chapter that's supposed to make the title start to make sense. (Everyone go, "Ooo, Ahhh, I see…") Good job. Anyway, the story is going to take a bit of a serious turn from here. So if you're just reading it for the smut, feel free to go back and re-read the previous chapters. I promise the fluff and the smut isn't gone for good but this is an angst/romance. It's not gonna be all fluffy puff marshmallows all the time! (Kudos to those of you who still love Homestar Runner!) Anyway, I hope you keep reading. And, as always, review-review-review!


	9. Rejection

Christmas break had ended way too fast. She didn't know what she was going to do with the new found knowledge of her pregnancy. One thing was certain; she wasn't ready to tell anyone.

The first thing she did when she got back to Hogwarts was change the password to her room. The last thing she need was an unexpected visit from Draco in the middle of the night. That's exactly what had gotten her into the mess she was in now.

When she came down to the Great Hall, all of her friends were gathered together discussing their Christmas break. Harry had finally asked Ginny to be his girlfriend and of course she had accepted. It didn't surprise anyone. But it had disheartened Hermione a tad. She felt a bit like a fifth wheel stuck between two couples. Lavender and Ron were cuddling to her left and Ginny and Harry were snuggling to her right while Hermione sat between them, stressed out and alone.

Looking over to the table across the hall didn't help any. Pansy had her boney hands clutched around Draco's arm. She glared at both of them. She didn't care if they saw her either.

The warning bell rang and people started to get up and leave the hall. Hermione just sat there. She didn't care if she was late. She was in a foul mood.

Most of the students had cleared the hall, including Pansy, when Draco looked over to her. He gave her a quizzical look. She was aware that she was scowling at him. Good. She hoped he noticed. He looked like he was going to come over and say something to her so she stood up and walked out of the hall before he could reach her.

/

Draco had an unsettled feeling. Why had Hermione looked so angry back in the great hall earlier today? It couldn't have been because of Pansy. Hermione had never reacted negatively to seeing them together before. She had been aware of their relationship from day one. Not to mention, he was still wearing the ring to assure her that Pansy's affection were meaningless to him.

The look she had given him bothered him all day. He just couldn't shake it off.

"What's wrong Dracie?" asked Pansy as they sat in the Slytherin common room that night. He was trying to get a scroll written for potions but all he kept doing was look up at the clock every five minutes. As soon as Pansy went to bed he was heading straight to Hermione's room. Maybe something bad had happened to her over break. He was worried about her.

That was very odd for him. Draco didn't typically worry about anyone else but himself. He wasn't even dating her. They were just like friends with benefits really. He looked down at his ring. The snake was slipping under his knuckle. He really did like the look of it.

"Dracie?" Pansy repeated himself. Draco had gotten lost in his thoughts.

"Yeah Pans?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just trying to think of what to write next is all" he dipped his quill in his ink well and jotted down another line onto the parchment.

Pansy seemed satisfied with his response and stopped talking. She was curled up next to him looking at a magazine.

Hermione read books, Pansy looked at magazines.

The difference between reading literature and looking at it was another thing that made Hermione even sexier to him. Hermione seemed to be superior to his girlfriend in every way except blood status.

He looked over at Pansy and felt completely bored and repulsed with her.

She glanced up at him from over her magazine, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He made up a lie, "What fruit goes into a polyjuice potion again?"

"Oranges" Pansy simply stated and went back to looking at her magazine.

Draco rolled her eyes. It was cherries. Pansy was such an idiot. Hermione would have known the correct answer.

Draco never thought about Hermione this much, what was going on with him? This was getting ridiculous. Pansy needed to go to bed so that he could go see her and get his feelings sorted out.

Nothing could really happen between himself and Hermione romantically, he knew that. He wasn't going to leave Pansy for Hermione and jeopardize his standing with his parents and the rest of the wizarding community. He had been the one to assert that with Hermione just before the Christmas break

He knew that he was messing with Hermione's feelings and evidently his own as well. Maybe that's why Hermione had glared at him so maliciously in the great hall that morning. He was playing around with her heart for his own personal satisfaction. Maybe he really was a big selfish git.

He frowned at the idea. He didn't want Hermione to see him as a big selfish git. He didn't want Hermione to see him in anything less than a positive light. They had been growing very close over the last year, figuratively and literally. It felt good to have someone to confide in who wouldn't tell anyone your secrets. Granted it was because neither of them wanted anyone else to know that they even spoke to each other, but still. The guaranteed privacy was attractive.

Pansy covered her mouth and yawned.

"Tired?" asked Draco.

She nodded her head and yawned again, her eyes watering from the effect. "Yeah, I think I'm going to call it a night' she closed her magazine and learned forward, pressing a kiss on his lips. Draco had to remind himself to return the affection.

"Goodnight babe" said Pansy as she stood up and walked towards her dorm.

"Night Pans" Draco wrote a few more lines onto his scroll until he was sure she was in her room. He picked up his things and dropped them off in his room before setting out down the hall outside of the common room.

Why did Gryffindor's commons have to be so far away from Slytherin's? He didn't feel like he could bring himself there fast enough.

He finally made it to her room. It always took him a few minutes to get past the portrait of the fat lady undetected and up the stairs to her room. He was lucky that the hallway towards her room ran opposite that of the common room.

He said the password, "Crookshanks" and waited for her door to click open.

Nothing happened.

He said it again, "Crookshanks"

Nothing.

He furrowed his brow in confusion. What was going on? Why would she change her password on him?

He knocked on the door this time. The sound seemed to bounce off of the walls and echo down the hall

Damnit, he didn't want anyone to hear him. He waited for Hermione to come to the door. But she didn't. He knocked again, a little louder this time. He couldn't afford to knock again. He was starting to get anxious of getting caught outside of her room.

"Hermione, open the door" he whispered loudly. If she was in there, she would hear him. He couldn't think of any reason why she wouldn't be in her room at this hour. Maybe she was asleep. But still, didn't she want to see him after their break apart? He'd assumed she'd be up, waiting for him.

Hermione sat on her bed holding onto herself. She could hear him outside of the door. She didn't want him to get caught, but she wasn't going to let him inside. Hopefully he wouldn't linger too long. It wasn't safe for him to just stand outside of her door, waiting.

"Hermione, please, come to the door at least" she heard him speaking through the door.

"I can't talk to you right now Draco" she finally brought herself to respond.

"Why?"

"I just can't. Please go"

There was a pause. The silence felt thick through the room

"Fine"

He'd sounded angry. She could hear his footstep descending back down the hall. She wanted to fling the door open and tell him to come back. She wanted to pretend that she had never found out that she was pregnant and just enjoy her time with him without guilt or worry. But that wasn't the reality of it. Until she could face reality, she couldn't face Draco

Hermione felt terribly alone. She didn't feel that she could turn to anyone. If she told her friends what she was going through they would just demand to know who the father was. She was too scared to know how Draco would react to tell him just yet. She wanted to make up her mind about her intentions before she tried to talk with him. She wasn't ready yet.

/

Draco walked back to the Slytherin room, frustrated. Girls were so stupid. They were emotional teeter-totters, every last one of them. He hadn't done anything to Hermione so she had no reason to act this way.

If he had done something to make her mad she should have just said so and they could have worked it out. Part of the reason he held Hermione in such high respect as because of her logic and intelligence. What she had just done, locking him out of her room with no explanation, was illogical, childish and a waste of his time. It was a very pansy thing to do.

He cringed. Pansy's behaviors didn't suit Hermione at all.

After making the long walk back to Slytherin common room, Draco repeated what used to be Hermione's password as well, "Crookshanks" and walked into his room.

He lay down in his bed and sulked. He didn't like Hermione ignoring him. He didn't like not being able to access her mind. He didn't like being locked out of her room, unable to touch her, unable to see her. It was as if he was being punished. He didn't like this at all.

A:N/ Not sure what I think of this chapter...let me know what you think. I know where I'm going with the story. I have it planned out to the end. The question now is how to get there. Haha. I'm hoping I don't hit a writer's block.


	10. The Possibility

Draco looked up as Hermione walked into their potions class. He wanted to pull her aside and ask her what had happened last night. What happened over the break that had caused her to close him out and act so ridiculous?

But he couldn't. He took a risk and just looked at her. He knew she could feel his eyes on her as she sat down at her desk. He maintained his glance until Professor Snape began the lesson.

/

Hermione could feel Draco looking at her. She kept her focus straight and looked at the board, acting as if she was actually paying attention to the words coming out of Professor's Snape's mouth.

She felt a flip inside of her as if what was inside of her knew Draco was looking at them. She knew it couldn't have actually been the baby; it was too early for her to feel that…wasn't it? She couldn't have been more than three months at most and she highly doubted she was even that far along.

Hermione looked over at him, he'd stopped watching her. Good, it made her even more unsettled. She tried to focus on the lesson but her mind kept wandering.

She didn't know what to do. She knew she didn't want to carry this child only to give it up for adoption. That was something she couldn't even think of. She was either going to have this baby or not have it.

Hermione had never really considered her opinion on abortion before. She was pretty sure she didn't like the idea of it but at the same time, the idea of everyone's response to her having and raising Draco's child terrified her.

Maybe she could just lie and say it was someone else's child? She knew that probably wouldn't last very long. Draco's entire family had very striking features, someone was bound to notice.

She tried to imagine what their child could look like. It wasn't a bad thought. They would probably make a cute baby. They both had decent enough genes, didn't they?

Then she remembered that Draco's parents would absolutely despise their child. It would be shunned and cast out for being a half blood child of a mudblood. Her blood boiled at the thought. It was the most stupid idea to think that a grandparent would resent their own grandchild over their blood status but she knew that was the kind of people the Malfoy's were.

"Miss Granger" Snape repeated himself for a third time.

"Hmm?" Hermione snapped out of her head.

"Pay attention" he scolded.

Hermione felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Had it been that obvious that she was lost in thought? Embarrassing. Draco was looking at her again, she could feel it.

/

What was going on with her? What was bothering her so much that she wasn't able to pay attention in class? He wanted her to look at him. Maybe if he got a look at her eyes he would be able to tell what was going on.

Nope, she looked back down to her text and started to follow along with the lesson. He'd have to try to catch her outside of class. He didn't care if someone caught him trying to talk to her. He needed to know what was going on.

She seemed to be able to predict his intentions because as soon as the class was over she'd bolted out the door and was quickly lost in the bustle of students moving on to their next class.

/

The world seemed to fall apart over the next week. The dark lord seemed to be gradually rising back to power. Everyone could feel that things were going to spill over soon and were bracing themselves for inevitable chaos. She worried about Harry, she was aware that he was going to have to fight.

What would she do if Harry needed her? She couldn't just think of herself anymore. If her plans were to carry this pregnancy through, she would have to keep her child's safety in mind before her own. That would mean deserting Harry at his time of need. She didn't like to think of it. Ron would always have his back of course, but since the beginning it had always been the three of them overcoming any obstacles that had come their way.

There was no telling how soon the war would erupt. It could begin tomorrow or months from now. But one thing was certain to everyone, there was going to be a war.

Hermione had been successful in avoiding Draco that entire week by spending most of her time locked up in her room thinking over her situation. If there was going to be a war she wasn't sure she wanted to be having a baby in the middle of it. This had to be the worst time to be considering having children.

She would be alone and inexperienced. If she had any hope of getting help it would require her to move in with her muggle parents, putting her and her child in even more danger.

It felt like she just couldn't win.

Hermione was about to turn in for the night when she heard a knock at the door. She paused.

The knock came again.

"Hermione" her name was whispered through the door.

It was Draco.

"Hermione, I've given you your space for a week now. Will you please talk to me? What's going on with you?"

She was going to have to tell him eventually, wasn't she? She couldn't hide this away forever. Everyone would find out in time.

She didn't want to but she made herself get up and open the door.

He looked more frustrated than angry but it was obvious he was upset and…worried?

Draco didn't wait for her to invite him in as he walked past her.

"What's wrong?" he asked her point blank.

She didn't know how to begin. It was as if her mouth forgot how to form words. Her eyes ventured to his hand, he was still wearing the ring she'd gotten him. He couldn't be too angry with her. Maybe he would understand. Maybe he would be okay with it.

She could have found a graceful way to say it, or began a slow conversation leading up to it but her brain stopped functioning and the words just fell out of her mouth like a loose weight.

"I'm pregnant"

She heard the words come out of her mouth but it didn't feel as if _she_ had actually said them. Her body froze as she waited for his reaction.

He didn't do anything.

Had he even heard her? She opened her mouth, about to repeat herself.

"I heard you" he said putting up his hand to stop her from saying anything else.

His lack of reaction was making her terribly uncomfortable. "Say something then…" her voice was soft and mousey. Very unlike her usual self.

"Are you certain?" he asked her. His voice was calm and even.

She nodded. "I took three tests to make sure. I-I'm even starting to show…just a little" her hands were shaking as she lifted up her shirt to reveal the smallest of bumps forming.

He looked like he was trying to swallow a pill that wouldn't fit down his throat right.

"Are you sure that it's-it's mine…"he started as he made his way to her bed and sat down on it. She had put her shirt back down but he couldn't stop staring at her midsection.

She couldn't help her emotional reaction. She felt on the verge of crying, "Fuck you" she was insulted the he wouldn't even suggest that.

"Sorry. Just-just making sure, had to ask-"

"I haven't been with anyone else but you-"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry I suggested it. Look, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you I just…I didn't know what to do or how to tell you"

"How long have you known?"

"Since Christmas"

He shook his head, still trying to comprehend the news. "I thought you were mad at me because of Pansy" he laughed at the idea, it seemed stupid now.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought that me being with Pansy had finally gotten to you or something…I don't know. I didn't understand why you were avoiding me but now it all makes perfect sense" he raised his hands and let them fall back down onto his lap. He still had a dumb founded look on his face.

He looked over at her. She still looked like the same Hermione he'd always known.

"How far along are you then?"

"I'm not sure. Close to three months probably" said guessed, shrugging her shoulders with uncertainty.

Draco wondered how small the baby would be at that point. It was overwhelming to try to comprehend.

He looked up and made eye contact with Hermione, she looked terrified. He'd never seen her look this scared before.

"Come here" he commanded of her. She wasted no time moving next to him on the bed. He pulled her close into his arms. As soon as his embrace encompassed her she started to cry.

"I'm so sorry" she apologized through her sobbing.

"Shhh" he stoked her hair to soothe her. "Why are you sorry? This is just as much my fault as it is yours"

"How do you know? I'm still not even sure how this happened. I was doing contraceptive charms every day to prevent this from happening, I must have been doing them wrong-"

"You know that you weren't doing them wrong. If anyone would be doing them right, it'd be you Hermione. Maybe this was just meant to happen"

She just shrugged and kept crying into his arms.

"What are we going to do? Your parents are never going let us have this child" said Hermione through her tears.

He hadn't thought of that yet. He hadn't thought of anything except for making Hermione feel better in that moment.

"Shh, we don't have to worry about any of that right now. Just relax" he tried to put everything else out of his mind.

This was the safest Hermione had felt all week, lying in his arms. His body was soft and warm against her. She could hear the rush of his breathing enter his chest and exhale. His soft fingers continued to brush through her hair, tingling against her scalp. The tenseness she had been carrying with her since turning over that first pregnancy test slowly began to rush out of her.

She didn't want to think about the baby. She didn't want to think about making a decision. She just wanted to be there in Draco's arms; lost in the moment forever.

Draco felt the temptation of a million thoughts and worries trying to push themselves into his mind. But he knew that thinking of all the possibilities in that moment wasn't going to help anything. He tried to just focus on taking care of Hermione, making sure she was going to be okay. He could worry later when he was alone. He had to be strong for her right now. That was all that mattered.

"I don't want you to think about anything right now, just be calm" Draco cooed as he coaxed her to lie down. He moved himself so that he was directly behind her so that she could lean her body against his torso. He reached forward, causing her to bend with him as he pulled the covers up on top of them, so that they cocooned together.

It was odd to think that there were three of them in bed at that moment…

Draco shook the thought from his mind and held onto Hermione even tighter. She was falling asleep. He could feel her breathing steady out and her body going limp. He was tempted to let his eyes fall close along with hers. He couldn't fall asleep yet; he would have to head back to the Slytherin common room eventually that night.

He watched Hermione sleeping in his arms.

His hand reached forward, trembling slightly as he allowed himself to gently press his palm against the tiny bulge that was beginning to grow inside of her. A tingling sensation shot through his fingers. His hand rested there, seemingly unable to move.

Had he really gotten her pregnant? Was his child truly residing inside of her at the very moment? The idea of Hermione's body literally creating another human being that was a part of him; blew his mind. They were creating life.

Draco shut his eyes and tried to image the possibility.

A:N/ Don't forget to review and check out my other fanfic (Torn). Thanks for reading!


	11. Breaking Down

Hermione flipped the business card in her hand over and over again.

_Madam Infinity _

_Divination wares and supplies_

_428 Knockturn Alley_

Hermione had found a couple of these cards wedged inside a book on pregnancy she had been reading in the library. She had hoped that researching her options would give her clarity. Madam Infinity's cards were discovered in between the pages of the book reserved for abortion. Hermione didn't feel that it was by mere coincidence.

She looked at the business card for another moment and then set it down on her dresser.

She hadn't decided if she was going to keep the baby or not. Every part of her logical mind screamed out that having a baby was the wrong decision.

Her first child should be made with a man who was willing to love her openly and unconditionally. Sure, Draco cared about her but he wasn't the man who was going to create a stable family home with her and help her raise this child.

Even if he agreed to carry this pregnancy through, alongside her; he would most likely require her to raise the child in secrecy while he only helped her financially.

He couldn't just throw money on this problem and expect it to go away. She wanted her child to have a father, not an income check from an unplanned sperm donor.

She didn't know how Draco really felt about all of this or what his intentions were. Last night, she had accidently fallen asleep before he'd left her room. The fact the he hadn't freaked out or gotten mad was a good sign, but that didn't mean he was ready to be a father by any means.

She'd had plenty of time that night to stew over her thoughts and consider her questions. There was a quidditch game between Hufflepuff and Slytherin that evening. She hoped Draco wouldn't take too long to get to her room after the game.

Typically she went to all the games with Harry and Ron but she just didn't have the gusto for it. There were more important things to her than watching quidditch right now. The distraction would have been good for her but Hermione didn't need a distraction, she needed to make a decision before a decision was made for her.

/

The door swung open before Draco could even knock.

"I heard you coming" Hermione explained.

"We won" he announced.

"Congrats" said Hermione. She cared about Draco but she could really care less about the outcome of the game in that moment.

"By the way, are you going to give me your new password?" Draco remembered.

"Depends" Hermione said as she shut the door and locked it. She placed a _Muffliato _charm on the room just to be safe. Harry, Ron and Ginny never visited her room at night but she was feeling particularly anxious that evening.

"Depends on what?" asked Draco after she had finished casting the charm

"How I feel about you after tonight. We have a lot to talk about"

"That's an understatement." He sighed, "Where do you want to begin?"

Draco made an attempt to retain eye contact with her but his eyes kept wandering back down to that baby bump. It gave him goosebumbs. He needed to sit down.

He allowed himself to sit on the edge of her bed. Hermione preferred to stand, her arms were crossed in front of her chest and she was fervently biting her lip.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Draco first.

Hermione furiously shook her head. "No, I want to hear how you feel" Her tone told him that there was no compromise. She needed him to talk first.

"Well, you know. I haven't had as much time to grasp the reality of this yet" Draco began. "…I don't know, I guess…its…weird and…" he was lost for words.

"That's what I thought" said Hermione to herself, throwing her hands up in the air as if she had given up already.

"Hey, hold up now. That's not fair. I've known about this news for a full, what? - twenty four hours? I don't have some plan schemed up on how to deal with this. Now, if you have some specific questions to ask me that you want answered then feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer truthfully. But if you want me to have to blue print ready for you that's going to fix everything, you'll have to give me some time-"

"I don't have time Draco" Hermione snapped, "If we decide we don't want to go through with this then I have less than another month to-" she swallowed, it was difficult, "to…you know… end this." her voice dwindled down at the end of her sentence.

"You would do that?" he hadn't thought of abortion as an option. He hadn't thought of any options yet, in truth.

Hermione shrugged, she looked upset as furious tears brimmed her eyes. "I'll do what I have to do"

"I wouldn't ask you to do that" stated Draco seriously.

Hermione laughed. Her head leaned back and her eyes looked up as if she were trying to will her tears back into her eyes.

"Right, Draco. What's the alternative here? Are you going to leave Pansy, admit to your family that you've been having relations with a mudblood and start a family with me? Are you going to suddenly fall in love with me, marry me and take care of us?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I was kind of hoping you had an idea and then I figured I would just work along with whatever you decided"

"It doesn't work that way. It's not that easy."

"Right" Draco quickly agreed with her. She was getting riled up and his intentions had not been to upset her like this

An awkward silence grew between them.

"Just curious" Hermione had a strange crazed bitterness in her voice. "What would you be doing if Pansy were standing here in my place? Would you be whipping out an engagement ring for her begging her to be your pureblood wife and carry your pureblood baby to term?"

Draco held his hand up and pointed at his ring. "She means nothing to me"

"And neither do I" Hermione quickly retorted.

"Don't talk like that" Draco thought it was a low blow. She knew better than to think that, didn't she? This had to be the hormones getting the best of her.

"Do you love me then, Draco? Is that it? Can you look me in the face and tell me that you love me and that you want to have this baby with me?"

"I might want to have this baby with you" was all Draco was able to admit. The rest got caught someone in his chest.

Hermione's jaw tensed up as her frustration grew. "Way to avoid my question Malfoy"

"Malfoy, is it? Seriously?" She was being unreasonable. "If you're going to be like that then maybe I should come back another time and we can talk about this later when you've calmed down.

"I don't want to discuss this later. I want to talk about this now"

"Ok Hermione, what do you want from me? What is it you would like me to do?"

Hermione started to cry angry tears, "I don't know. I don't fucking know. Anything but leave, I guess"

"I'm not going to leave you" he assured her.

"Yes you will. If I have this baby, you're not going to be there" Hermione couldn't control her tears any longer as they ran down her face.

"How do you know that? How do you _know_ that I'm not going to be there for you?"

"Because I'm a _mudblood _Malfoy" she spat out. Her voice was filled with hurt. Draco felt a pang of guilt for all of the years he had tormented her with that word; drilling into her mind that she was less than other witches because of her birth status. "I'm not _worthy_ of carrying your precious pureblood seed, am I? Wouldn't want to taint the Malfoy line with a half blood baby. Dirty blood, heaven forbid"

Draco got up and walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. She resisted him but he used his strength to force her close in against his chest.

"I don't believe that" he said, speaking into her hair as her face burrowed down into his chest.

"Yes you do" she weeped.

"N,o I don't believe that Hermione" Draco repeated.

"I know that you do. You're ashamed of me and that's why we can't be together outside of this room. Remember? The universe outside of this room would never accept a pairing like us. Much less a child born out of this arrangement." She finally fought her way out of his arms, pushing her hands roughtly away against his chest.

He immediately grabbed hold of her arm and forced her back into his grasp and held her tighter. He wasn't going to let her go.

"I'm sorry that I said those things before-"

"No you're not. You said it because it's the truth. And it is!" she kept shaking her head. She felt like she was having a breakdown "I can't do this. I can't go through with the pregnancy. It's impossible. There is no way we can bring a baby like that into a world that-"

"Stop talking like that. As if our child would inevitably be some kind of resented abomination" interrupted Draco. It was beginning to irritate him. His child was still swimming around, developing in Hermione's womb but he still felt a twinge of protection and pride for it. He couldn't explain it.

"What else would it be?"

"_My_ child, _your_ child, Hermione. _Our_ baby"

It was just an idea. A possibility that they would have this baby and everything would be okay.

"Our child? Will I be allowed to drop the baby off at your house or will my dirty blood stain your doorstep?" Hermione repeated back Blaise's words.

Draco bit his lip to keep from saying something out of frustration.

Hermione continued to press her point, "How do you know you're parents won't try to hex me in the threshold? After all, this war is only getting worse day by day and we know where they stand."

She grabbed Draco's arm and lifted up his sleeve, revealing his dark mark. "For Merlin's sake, we're not even on the same side of the war Draco."

Draco furiously pulled his sleeve back down over the mark. "You know I don't actual believe in what that stands for. My parents required me-"

"_Exactly_. "Hermione stressed her point, "You're going to do whatever your parents approve of. That's why you're dating Pansy, that's why you would marry her if they asked you to. That's why we sneak around the school pretending that all we have is a crazed lust for one another, when we both know that its more." She counted off each point on her hand, "That mark on your arm means that you're willing to die for _his_ cause Draco. If I had this child it would be you and _your kind_ hunting down me and my child to _kill_ us. Tell me, are you going to be the one there to protect us? Or will you be the man who cast the Dark Mark above our roof?"

Draco felt like he was either going to hit something really hard or he going to be ill. He didn't know what to say. It was true; once the war began he wouldn't be able to protect them. Starting a family with a muggle born witch in this climate could not only get him shunned from his community, it could potentially get them all killed.

"And honestly Draco, how can I expect you to be there for me when you can't even tell me that you love me?" Hermione had calmed down a tad as she said this. "I know that you care for me Draco. But I don't think that you really love me. You can't"

Draco was so angry in that moment. He hated everything about who he was, everything he stood for. He hated his parents for raising him with the ideals they instilled in him. He hated that he ever allowed them to brand him with that wretched mark.

The fact that Hermione had gotten pregnant with his child, despite the precautions they had taken felt like a miracle. This child was probably supposed to be some incredible gift that turned his world around and made everything clear and right. But he wasn't ever going to know. He was beginning to realize there was no way they could ever do this.

Hermione deserved better than what he could offer her. She was right. She deserved someone who could hold her out in the open the way Ron held Lavender in the great hall. She deserved someone who could kiss her regardless of who was watching in the way Harry refused to separate his lips from Ginny's since they had returned from break.

He wanted Hermione to have it all. She was too bright and beautiful to compromise for less than the best. At this point in his life, Draco was not what she deserved. It didn't matter if he wanted to be, he couldn't be. That was the truth. The current circumstances didn't allow for it and there was nothing he could do about it.

Draco finally spoke, "Hermione, it sounds like you've basically made your mind up about this."

"I don't think we can do this" Hermione confirmed. Her voice was shaking.

Draco looked at her with cold and indifferent eyes. "Then do what you have to do. Just don't tell me about it"

He didn't even wait for her response. He violently tore his gaze away from hers and walked out of the room as fast as his legs would carry him. He couldn't look at her. He couldn't be near her and his…the child inside of her.

Draco did his best to push everything out of his mind as he rushed back to the common room, taking strides that were twice his usual size.

He walked into the common and room and completely ignored Pansy as she tried to get his attention. He slammed the door behind him and stood in the silent solitude of his room, just shaking with adrenaline.

He was desperately putting all of his walls up and trying his damnest to push all of his emotions out. It wasn't working very well. Within minutes, Draco found himself sitting on the floor, leaning against his door doing something he never did.

He cried.

A:N/ So, I almost have this story completly finished. I'm just working on editing and revising the final chapters. I hope you keep reading along until the end. Don't forget to review! Also, I might not get an update up tomorrow. I got alot going on this weekend but I'm going to try my best! Thanks!


	12. Mistakes

Hermione cried herself to sleep and woke up feeling dehydrated and weak as a result. She thanked Merlin it was Saturday. She would be able to get done what she needed to do.

Hermione got dressed quickly and headed out her door.

"Hey Hermione" Ron called out her name before she was able to reach the portrait hole. He had a bright smile on his face. It quickly disappeared when he saw how miserable Hermione looked.

"You alright 'Mione?"

Hermione couldn't even lie as she shook her head.

Ron didn't ask her what was wrong he just pulled her close and hugged her. She broke down and cried in his arms.

"Do you want to talk about it? You can talk to me" said Ron.

"I-I don't want to talk about it. I just- I want everything to do with this stupid war to be over"

"The war hasn't even really started yet" said Ron regretfully.

'I know" moaned Hermione. She pulled herself closer to her friend. "I'm an emotional wreck right now, Ron. I'm so sorry I'm blubbering like this"

"It's alright 'Mione. I'm here for you whenever you need me" he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

She took it graciously from him and dried her face. "Thank you". She presented it back to him when her face was as dry as it was going to get.

Ron put his hand up and refused it back. "Keep it. I have more"

"Thank you" Hermione repeated. She was going to need it she had a long day ahead of her.

"What are you doing today?" asked Ron.

"I was about to go for a walk"

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I need sometime by myself to just clear my head, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand" Ron gave her another quick hug. "Just take care of yourself, alright?"

"I will. I promise." She did her best to give him a smile. It was weak but it was as genuine as it was going to get. She meant it with all of her heart but she just didn't have the strength to feel any kind of joy that day. "I love you Ron"

"I love you too Hermione" Ron replied without hesitation. What she wouldn't give to get that kind of reaction out of Draco. Even if he didn't mean it romantically. Even if it was just as a friend it would be enough for her to know that he loved her in some way. She wanted to hear it from him. But that was never going to happen.

"I'll see you later" said Hermione, waving goodbye to Ron.

"Ok. Enjoy your walk"

Hermione turned around and walked out of the portrait hole. She thought over the address in her mind, _428 Knockturn Alley…_ She read the card a million times over and had it committed to her memory.

Since Hermione was of age and it was the weekend she was allowed to sign herself out of the grounds. She wrote down that she would be going to Diagon Alley for school supplies. She would give anything to have that be the truth.

On her way to the front of the grounds she stopped at the owlery. She knew Draco had asked her not to tell him when she went to do this but she felt he had a right to know. She wanted to tell someone.

She pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote her message quickly, and sen tit off. It simply stated,

_I'm Going_

Hermione felt as if all the butterflies that had once fluttered about in her chest had set themselves on fire and turned into ash. Her mouth felt dry and her stomach was queasy. She shook it off and focused on getting past the apparition point.

She turned and found herself standing at the edge of Knockturn alley. This was it.

_Just do this Hermione. Don't over think it. It will be over faster than it started._

_/_

Draco was sitting in the Great Hall with Pansy eating breakfast when the owl reached him. He pulled the note out and read the two simple words.

_I'm Going_

He shot up out of his seat immediately, startling Pansy.

"Draco?"

He ignored her and read the note again. What was she doing? He'd spoken to her _once_ about the possibility of them having this child. He didn't think that what he'd said or what she'd said really held any permanence. He figured that it would have all blown over by that night and they would be able to try to discuss everything again.

She was serious and she was on her way, that very moment to have an abortion.

Draco still wasn't sure what he wanted to do. But he didn't want the decision to be ripped out of his hands two days after finding out he had a choice. He didn't want her to do this. Not today.

He felt a sense of panic and rushed out the great hall and practically ran to the Gryffindor commons leaving Pansy stunned and confused in the Hall.

/

Hermione didn't like the feel she got walking down Knockturn Alley. It was full of dark magic and underground business exchanges. She made sure to keep her head down, only lifting her eyes to follow the numbers posted on the buildings.

422…424….her eyes searched for her destination. She reached 426 and it immediately led to 430. She stopped there and realized she had to walk down the alley between the two shops. It was cold, wet and narrow. She practically had to turn her body to fit down it. The door was attached to the back of the shop next to it. It didn't look like a business; it looked like the door to someone's run down patio.

Hermione felt a surge of nerves go through her. She took a deep breath to steady herself and knocked on the door.

Every second seemed to slow down. The sound of footsteps approached the door until it opened before her revealing a very tall, slender, older witch with long dark hair. She looked very aged but couldn't have been far past her fifties.

"Can I help you my dear?" the woman snided down at her. Hermione realized how out of place she looked.

Hermione was surprised to hear how unstable her voice sounded. "I-I found your card…in a book at school" Hermione couldn't bring herself to look into this woman's eyes as a grin came across her face.

"Ah yes," said the woman. Hermione knew from her tone that she was at the right place and that the woman before her knew exactly why she had come. "Come on in my dear. Make yourself comfortable"

Hermione walked up the steps and followed the witch inside.

/

Draco didn't care if he was spotted as he rushed through the portrait hole. It was mere luck that no one saw him as he slipped down the hall leading to Hermione's room. He got up to the door and remembered he didn't know the password. He prayed she was inside.

He knocked, loudly.

No answer.

"Fuck"

He tried again.

Still no answer. Either she wasn't in there or she was ignoring him. He had no idea where she could be if she wasn't there. And he highly doubted that she'd told Weasley or Potter that she had left school to get an abortion so it wouldn't do any good to ask them where she was. His only hope was that she was still inside her room, angry with him and ignoring his knocking.

He prayed that was the case. She could hate him all she wanted as long as she was still in the school; as long as she didn't leave.

He decided he was going to try to guess her password. It was all he could do. He felt frantic and helpless.

"Uh…damn you Hermione…let's see…Potter?"

No reaction. He tried again, spitting out a series of guesses.

"Harry Potter? Weasley? Ron Weasley? Lavender is an idiot? No, that was stupid…um… I hate Pansy?"

He pulled at his hair and he tried to think of a more reasonable guess.

"Hogwarts, A History? I love homework. I don't know, I'm Hermione Granger and I'm an idiot for running off to kill my unborn child without permission" said Draco frustrated.

That wasn't true.

He'd given her permission. He gave up. He quit before he had even tried.

He shut his eyes tightly and scowled.

"Draco, you're an idiot sometimes"

To his surprise, the door clicked open.

Draco. The password had been Draco.

He thanked Merlin and pushed his way inside.

He didn't see her in his room, and her bathroom was empty. Her wand was gone as well as her coat. She'd left. He was too late.

He tried to not lose control as he thought of her alone somewhere getting the irreversible accomplished. It was chance that his eyes looked up and caught the business card sitting on her night stand.

_Madam Infinity _

_Divination wares and supplies_

_428 Knockturn Alley_

Madam Infinity? Divination? Hermione hated divination. This card looked like a load of croc but it was all he had to go on. He grabbed it, rushed back out of her room and flew out to get past the apparition point.

Nothing mattered more than getting to her as fast as he could.

/

Hermione figured that the tall witch before her was Madam Infinity.

"I assume you have a means to pay?"

Hermione nodded and handed her a small sack of galleons. She was sure there more than enough in there. She didn't care if she was overpaying. She just wanted it done and she wanted it done correctly.

"You've never done this before have you? "said the witch with a sly look on her face.

"Of course not!" Hermione realized how short she had sounded and rephrased, "No. this wasn't supposed to happen…"

The witch didn't seem offended; she just continued to smile at her as if she was amused with her misfortune.

"You needn't worry; it will all be over soon. The procedure won't take long"

"What will you do?" Hermione wouldn't deny that she was nervous and scared.

"Come with me" said Madam Infinity leading her into another room at the back of the store. The madam pulled a curtain aside and revealed a long couch. It was similar to couches Hermione had seen used for psychiatry patients. This particular couch had a deep red color and was covered in a soft velvet like fabric.

"Lie down" the Madam instructed.

Hermione did as she was told. Her heart felt as if it was going to beat out of her chest.

"Rita!" shouted Madam Infinity. There was a small pop and a tiny grey house elf appeared.

"Yes mistress?" asked the house else, her head bowed until her ears touched the floor.

Madam Infinity looked to Hermione with an eerily sweet smile on her face.

"Can Rita bring you anything to drink my dearest?"

Hermione shook her head. If she tried to put anything in her mouth she was going to get sick.

"What are you going to do to me?" Hermione asked with her eyes clamped shut. She tried to relax as her body lay extended on the couch. It might have been soft but it wasn't comforting.

"Just a bit of wand-work and potion is all. Drink this" Madam Infinity handed her a vial of thin pink liquid. It seemed to be boiling but when Hermione held it in her hand it was cool to the touch.

"This will allow me to make all of this go away. In summary, what I will do is reverse your pregnancy. Working backwards up to the point of conception. At which point I will vanish the fertilized egg until there's no trace anything ever happened." She said it so brightly, as if it was no big deal. The entire procedure reeked of dark magic. She would be erasing the possibility of life within her. Hermione shuddered to think of it.

"Are there any risks?" Hermione asked

"Only if I attempt to vanish the egg too quickly. If I try to remove it at a stage later than the point of conception…well let's just say, it hasn't happened more than once in the last twenty five years I've been doing this"

Hermione didn't ask how many of these she did each week. She didn't want to know. Her odds sounded pretty good and she needed to relax. She wasn't really killing anything she was just erasing a mistake. Everything was going to be okay.

"Are you ready?" asked Madam Infinity.

Hermione nodded, she tipped the potion back and let it move through her. She felt a cooling sensation flow through her entire body, within moments it switched its feel and began to warm her from her core, outward. She suddenly felt very relaxed as she lay her back down.

"I know you'll want to fall asleep, but try not to." Instructed Madam Infinity.

Hermione nodded her head slowly, her eye lids were heavy. She was so mellow, so chill and relaxed. Everything was going to be fine. She felt really good about this. Clearly, she had made the right decision. She wasn't even mad at herself or Draco. Everything in the world was alright.

Madam Infinity loomed over her with her wand raised over her core and began to mutter her enchantments.

/

Where was this damn place? He didn't have very long to find her. He hadn't wasted time checking himself out at the school and he was sure there would be a professor or a prefect sent to retrieve him shortly. Students who weren't granted approved clearance to leave the grounds were tracked.

Draco didn't care.

People gave him suspicious looks. Draco had gone down these streets all his life and still he felt unwelcomed wherever he went. The dark feeling that loomed the alley didn't bother him anymore.

He pulled the card out of his pocket and read it again. 428, that should be on the next block. He walked a bit faster.

/

Hermione felt like she could have been getting a massage at a spa. Madam Infinity had a concentrated look on her face. Clearly, what she was doing was very difficult. If it was, Hermione couldn't tell. She couldn't feel a thing.

"Almost finished" said Madam Infinity softly.

Hermione didn't mind how long it took. She could stay in this state for hours. feeling light as a feather, just floating over the soft couch beneath over.

Madam Infinity made a concerning face, her brow scrunched up as her eyes squinted a bit more. It didn't last long. Her wand made a quick knot like motion and then with a final swish Hermione came down from her cloud.

"How was that?"

"I didn't feel a thing"

Madam Infinity smiled sweetly at her. She opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by a loud banging at the door.

"Rita, get the door" she commanded.

Who on earth was at her door knocking like that?

The tiny elf was nearly flung across the room as the door burst open and Draco forced his way inside.

"Hermione?" he called out. "Hermione are you in here?"

"Draco?" Hermione called out. She tried to sit up but found that her body was too exhausted. She could barely move.

Draco followed the sound of her voice and found her in the back room.

He felt his stomach drop. "Tell me you didn't"

"It's already done" Madam Infinity simply stated. She hadn't appreciated the way he had barged into her store. "I assume you're the reason she's here"

Draco just stood there, stunned.

"Have a seat" instructed the Madam, snapping him out of his daze.

The house elf pulled up a chair behind him so that he could sit down next to Hermione.

He looked her over before he spoke softly, "I wish you hadn't done this"

"Draco," it hurt to talk, "we already went over this"

Hermione's voice was soft and strained.

"I'll give you some privacy" said Madam Infinity excusing herself. If Hermione's payment hadn't been so generous she would have kicked Draco out the moment he kicked open her door.

Draco didn't care anymore. He let himself get emotional and allowed the wetness push forward in his eyes.

It was gone. The possibility of creating something beautiful was gone.

Hermione reached out her hand. Draco slipped his hand into hers and squeezed.

"Don't hate me" Hermione whispered. "I had to"

Draco just shook his head and the pressure in his eyes increased. "I wish you hadn't" he repeated.

The first tear fell and hit the top of her hand. Hermione had never seen him cry before.

He had never felt this broken before. Draco had made a lot of mistakes in his life but nothing could describe what he felt in that moment.

Hermione didn't say anything. She just held onto his hand tighter as he softly cried beside her. When he finally opened his eyes she could see the water shimmering over his grey orbs.

"I should have just told you-"he said more so to himself than to her.

"Told me what?" asked Hermione.

"I-I should have just told how I really feel. This entire time, I shouldn't have tried to be something I'm not. I shouldn't have repressed how I honestly felt because of some stupid cause that I don't even believe in. I don't care if a war is coming up, I don't want to be on the losing side. I want to be standing wherever you are Hermione. Right or wrong, if I'm next to you it's where I belong."

Hermione was lost for words. Her body was so drained she couldn't have said much if she'd had the ability.

She felt a burning in her core. She assumed it was her body noticing the sudden vacancy. It felt terrible. She hadn't anticipated this. Her hand clenched against his sharply as reality crashed over her.

"Oh my god, what have I done" she gasped. She couldn't breathe. Draco pulled her up into a sitting position and held her close to him. They were both vulnerable, weak and filled with regret that they hadn't been strong enough to sustain the pregnancy that was just destroyed.

Hermione buried her face into Draco's neck and let her tears run free as she listened to the sound of his voice.

"I should have told you how I really felt from the first time I realized what you meant to me" he confessed as he held her closer.

"You are so confusing Draco" said Hermione angrily through her tears.

"I know. I'm an idiot" admitted Draco. He had stopped crying but there were tear streaks stained on his face and his eyes were still red. "I'm an idiot and I'm a coward. I could have prevented all of this by just having the courage to admit that I love you." He shook his head in disbelief as he said it.

Hermione almost didn't catch what he'd said. She knew she'd heard it but she didn't believe it, "What did you say Draco?"

Draco looked Hermione directly into her tear filled eyes. "I said that I love you and I'm sorry that I was never the man you deserve to be with. But I want to be that man more than anything"

"What about your parents, what about Pansy?" Hermione couldn't believe the things she was hearing.

"Fuck them. I don't care. All I need is to be with you. You make me happier than anyone I've ever known. Your personality fits with mine so well it scares me sometimes. I'm miserable when I'm not around you. I can't imagine leaving school after this year and not seeing you every day. I don't want to imagine it"

Hermione was distraught .All the reasons she had used to justify the decision she'd just made were crumbling apart. She had made a horrible mistake. She felt herself on the verge of hyperventilating again, "I hate you right now" she gasped.

Why had he waited until now to have an epiphany? Why had he waited until it was already too late to say something?

They both began to cry again. "I know that I should have said something before and that it's too late now" he let go of her hand and touched her stomach gently. His hand was shaking. The small bump was already gone. It was as if it never happened. He hated it.

"Can you forgive me? Hermione, I'm willing to be better. I'm willing to change." claimed Draco as he looked into her eyes. Desperation pleading behind those beautiful gray eyes.

Hermione felt so lost. Overwhelmed by his sudden declaration of love for her and the reality that she had just killed their child.

Before Hermione could answer him, Madam Infinity returned to the room. She handed Hermione a two vials. "Drink the white one now. It will give you the strength and energy to get back home. The Red one is for later. You'll get hit with another wave of fatigue and you may feel sore. I wouldn't take it until you're about to go to bed"

Hermione couldn't bring herself to thank her. She silently took the vials and drank the white one. Immediately she felt some strength coming back to her. She still felt weak through it. She knew that it was more so from being emotionally drained than it was from the physical effects of the produce she'd had one.

Draco helped her keep her balance allowing her to lean her weight against him as they walked back out onto the street.

"Come here" Draco turned Hermione to face him. She clung tightly onto him as he apparated them both back to the school.

A:N/ Don't hate me *Runs and hides* I was just listening to the muse! Don't forget to review!


	13. Slipping Away

They waited until the coast was clear before walking back to her room.

"Draco" he said the password to her room and walked her inside.

"So, you figured it out?"

"I know you better than you think" Draco helped Hermione lay down on her bed. She looked like she was in pain.

Draco picked up the red vial, "Do you want this now?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, she said not to take it until I was going to bed."

"You're in bed" he pointed out.

'I don't want to sleep. I want to talk to you"

Draco sat next to her side. "You sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow?"

"No, I want to pretend that today never happened after tonight" Hermione didn't want to lug this guilt around with her forever. She made a decision. I didn't matter if Draco suddenly realized that he did, indeed, love her. It would still have been a dangerous time to have a child. She had to believe she'd done the right thing or she'd never forgive herself. At the very least, she needed to lie herself into believing it.

"I know that I have terrible timing," began Draco.

"-That's an understatement" Hermione pulled her covers up.

"But that doesn't mean that what I said wasn't true. I do love you Hermione" Draco looked her directly in the eyes as he said it.

She was so angry with him in that moment but she couldn't deny those eyes. She couldn't pass up this time to validate the way she felt.

"I love you too Draco. You'd have to be a complete idiot to have not realized that by now"

"Evidently, I am a complete and total idiot" Draco tried to smile but it was forced.

"I thought that this moment would feel a lot different" confessed Hermione.

"Me too"

Hermione put her hands on her stomach; her eyes held a haunted essence to them already. It had only been an hour.

"Hermione"

She turned her head and faced him. She looked so depressed, he hated it. He wanted to kiss her pain away. Erase all the mistakes he'd made from her memory and complete her again. He had allowed her to create a void that he knew he would never be able to fill no matter how hard he tried.

He kept speaking, "After the war, we could always consider doing it the right way" Draco's hand extended itself to touch her stomach. She flinched. He hated it.

"I can't try to picture the future without feeling absolutely exhausted"

Draco frowned. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead tenderly. She shut her eyes as a tear ran down her cheek. Draco wiped it gently away.

"I know it's early but you should get some sleep babe"

Hermione didn't argue this time. She stripped down out of her clothes, still in bed. Draco grabbed an extra-long t-shirt that cascaded down to her knees from her drawer and handed it to her. She slipped it on over her head.

Draco grabbed the red vial and brought it over to her. Hermione accepted it and drank it down in a few gulps.

"Draco, will you wait with me until I fall asleep?"

"Of course" he climbed into bed next to her. Hermione leaned her body against his, snuggling against his chest. Draco wrapped his arm around her.

"Does this mean you're going to finally leave Pansy?"

"High and dry" Draco affirmed.

Hermione yawned, "What about your parents?"

"I guess I'll be getting my own place after school ends, won't I?"

"You mean we?"

He smiled, "Yeah, I meant we."

"I'll help protect you." said Hermione through a yawn. It felt ridiculous to hear her say that to him in her current state. She felt so weak in his arms.

"Harry and Ron might be slow to accept you but we won't let the death eaters have you if you decide to do the right thing and join us."

"Hermione, I'll do anything you ask me to" Draco whispered softly before he gently kissed her. Hermione felt a familiar flutter in her chest. The butterflies were back. They made her feel light headed. She reached up and held onto Draco for anchorage, she felt like she was floating.

"I love you" Draco said between a kiss.

Draco's tongue enticed her to open her mouth a bit wider, deepening their kiss.

Hermione didn't know why but the more he kissed her, the higher she felt. Her grip on him got tighter as she felt whiteness flash into her mind.

"I love you too Draco" she said into his lips before closing them back together. It felt good to be able to say it after all this time.

His hands were wrapped strongly around her frail body. She felt a quiver shoot down her back as her temperature dropped

"Baby, why are you so cold?"

"I don't know" she pulled his focus back onto their kiss.

Draco moved his attention back to her lips but quickly had his attention averted as his hand ran up the back of her thigh. She was like ice.

"Hermione, what's going on-"he looked at her.

Draco felt panic surge through him as she saw that her eyes were starting to roll back into her head.

"Hermione" he repeated her name, trying to get her to come back. Her body gave a small shake in his arms and then started to convulse so violently that he could barely hold onto her.

He didn't know what was happening. He was filled with dread. Draco wasted no time jumping out of bed and scooping her up in his arms.

"Hermione, stay with me. Can you speak? Baby, say something" Draco kept talking to her as he kicked open the door and rushed her down the stairs

"Help!" he yelled out. "Someone get a professor, now!" he prayed someone was in the common room and had heard him. He turned the corner and walked into the main common room. It was just his luck; Harry and Ginny were sitting in the common room cuddling on the couch.

"What the hell?" Harry looked up to see what was going on. It took him a second to realize who was being carried down the stairs in such a frantic manner. He didn't even pay attention to the fact that it had been Malfoy carrying her.

"Ginny, go get help. Now" Harry shot up off of the couch and rushed over. Ginny sprinted out of the common room.

Hermione's eyes were fluttering. She was doing her hardest to keep them open but every time she was able to find focus her body would thrash and pull her back under.

"Ron" Harry yelled out. Ron's door opened and he looked out.

"What is it Harry?"

"Get down here now. It's Hermione. Something's wrong"

"What?" Ron told Lavender to stay in his room before he ran down the stairs. "Merlin" he cursed as he saw her thrashing on the floor. He knew exactly how that felt like from when he'd been poisoned in his sixth year. But this was different. Nothing was coming out of her mouth and her body movements were jerkier than his hand been.

Draco kept repeating Hermione's name, trying desperately to keep her with him.

"Draco" she coughed his name out. She grabbed onto his hand desperately.

"Hermione, stay with me"

"Draco, I-"Hermione made a sick gurgling sound. It sounded like she was choking on something.

"Breathe, Hermione, breathe' commanded Harry as he knelt on her other side. Hermione's eyes rolled from looking at Harry to the back of her head.

Draco smacked her face lightly, "Don't do that. Hermione look at me"

Her eyes kept rolling back as she tried to focus on Draco. She could hear him but his figure was just a haze.

Draco felt her hand tighten violently against his just before she gasped. It was a deep gasp that made his skin crawl. Her body tensed up tighter before her intake released her and let her breathe again, but just barely.

She came through to a moment of awareness. She could barely see Draco so she reached up to feel him. Her hand found the side of his face and stayed there.

"I love you" she whispered. She could feel the hot tears rolling down from his eyes. It was the last sensations she felt before her body whipped her back into convulsions.

Ron was sitting there at the end of her feet, crying hysterically as he watched her helplessly.

"Where is the professor?" bellowed Harry. Everything was happening so fast. They were nowhere near a bezoar and they had no idea how to heal her based off of the symptoms she was showing. All three of them felt absolutely useless as they watched her begin to choke.

"Hermione, stop it. Stop it please" begged Draco. Her chocking got louder as her neck lashed back.

"Oh god" Ron cringed; he ran off and became ill. He couldn't bear to watch anymore.

Blood was starting to seep out from Hermione's core, staining her shirt red. The blood kept spreading until it began to pool under her. A trickle of blood began to flow from her mouth as she kept violently coughing. Draco could feel that she was in incredible pain; her hand was practically crushing his but he wasn't going to move it.

_This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening_

The common room door swung open as McGonagall and Snape rushed in.

"Dear lord" said McGonagall. She shooed potter away and took her spot next to Hermione.

Snape tried to move Draco away but he refused to leave Hermione's side so Snape knelt down near Hermione's head.

McGonagall had her wand out and was muttered an incantation. Snape was trying to shove what looked like a bezoar into her mouth. It wasn't going down, there was too much blood coming up.

"It's not helping" said Harry frantically.

Lavender had peeked out to see what the commotion was along with a few other students who were near the common room.

Hermione started to lose color. Draco felt his heart racing. This was a bad dream. A horrible dream that he was going to wake up from at any minute.

"Severus…" McGonagall had too much uncertainty in her tone. It was unsettling.

"You can't let her die" demanded Draco.

Hermione was unbelievably pale. There was so much blood. Draco had her blood all over him, but he didn't care. It didn't matter. He needed her to pull through. He couldn't lose her.

"There's nothing else we can do Minerva" said Snape. His voice was unsettling.

"Don't say that. Don't you say that" Draco's voice didn't sound human. He couldn't accept this as reality. It had to be impossible.

The professors kept attempting to stop the blood, cease her convulsing, and make her stop choking for another minute or so. They didn't give up even though the situation seemed hopeless.

It couldn't have been more than three minutes but it felt like hours as Draco watched Hermione helplessly slipping away from him.

"Hermione" he leaned over her, pressing his forehead against hers. He pleaded with all his might; his tears spilling down onto her, "Listen to me. I love you. I love you so much, you can't leave me. You can't die. Don't do this". He was begging like he'd never begged before. If he could have one prayer answered in his life it would be this. He would give anything, absolutely anything to make this stop.

Draco felt like he was slowly falling off a cliff as her body stopped moving and her hand went limp, letting go of his.

McGonagall stopped waving her wand and Snape removed his hands from trying to steady her body.

She was gone.

Hermione Granger was dead.

Draco began to bawl; his body collapsing on top of hers. It was too much for his mind to accept. It couldn't be real. His lamented howling echoed through the common room, causing more students to look out and see what was happening

Snape moved closer and looked as if he was going to pick her up.

"No!" Draco found himself shouting as he pulled Hermione's limp body up and held it against his own. He was drenched in her blood at that point, but he didn't care.

She was so cold and felt light and heavy in his arms at the time. There was no resistance.

"Hermione, wake up" his voice cracked as he began to shake. "Hermione please, you can't leave me. I can't do this without you." His hand brushed her face with desperate affection as her hair kept getting caught in her face, catching onto all of the blood.

Harry was holding onto Ginny, tears falling freely down his face. Ron had walked back in the room to see Draco lift her lifeless body up off the floor. He nearly collapsed, holding himself up with the couch.

Draco had to be pried away from her as the professors both intervened.

"Draco, you have to let her go" said professor McGonagall.

"No-"

"She's gone Draco. There's nothing more than can be done." said Snape

Draco shut his eyes violently, "Don't say that. You can't say that" He struggled to pull her body closer. She was so cold. Too cold.

Eventually Snape was able to pry Hermione out of his arms.

Draco was covered in blood and tears as he watched Snape walk out of the portrait hole with Hermione's lifeless body dangling in his arms.

A/N: You can't stop reading because of this. The story isn't over. Once again, this is my muse's fault so don't hate me. I just write as instructed. Once again, don't stop reading and keep reviewing. Thank you! x


	14. Unimaginable Loss

Draco sat on the ground for what felt like hours. Everyone was in absolute shock. The sounds of crying and gasping echoed throughout the common room. Draco felt a sick warmth saturating into his clothes and realized it was radiating from the amount of blood he had on him. Hermione's blood.

He felt like he was going to be ill.

He lifted his shirt up over his head and threw it away from him. What had once been a clean white shirt was now a deep red.

This couldn't be real.

Taking off his shirt hadn't done much to relieve him of the blood. There was still a great deal of blood on his pants and blood that had seeped through the fabric of his shirt was now drying onto his skin.

He didn't know what to do. He couldn't think. There was a constant dull buzz going off in his head. It felt as if he had broken.

He lifted himself off the ground. There was blood pooled all over the floor, you could even make out the shape of where Hermione's body had laid.

He needed to get away from this room.

Now.

He angrily pushed open the door and walked out of it.

Draco felt angry and distraught as he made his way to the Slytherin common room. He felt like he should have been heading to the hospital room to see if Hermione was okay.

But there was no point. Hermione wasn't okay. She was dead.

Draco felt the truth grip him like a knife to the heart and began to weep again. He practically fell into the Slytherin common room overwrought with tears.

Pansy was the first person to notice him. She raced over.

"Oh my god Draco. What happened?" she frantically searched his body over thinking that he was injured.

"It's not mine- the blood isn't mine" Draco choked out. He clung onto Pansy. He didn't know what else to do.

People were staring.

"Come on Draco. Come to my room"

He followed Pansy, blinded by his tears, as she ushered him away from the common room. She sat him down on the bed.

"Draco what's going on" she sounded scared. He had never seen Draco cry. And he wasn't just crying, he was bawling; hysterically.

Pansy rubbed his back in an attempt to calm him down. "Draco breathe, you have to breathe. Tell me what's going on"

Draco was pulling at his hair as he cried into his lap. His entire body was shaking.

"She's-she's dead."

"Who's dead? Draco, who died?"

"Her-Hermione. Hermione is dead" the words cut into him each time they escaped his lips.

"Hermione Granger?"

He nodded his head.

"Oh my god." Pansy had never liked Hermione but she had never wished death on her. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. I was with her on Knockturn alley and she-she" he couldn't say it. In one day he had lost his unborn child and the woman he loved. It was unbearable.

"Why were you with Granger?" asked Pansy confused.

Nothing mattered anymore. He might as well tell her the truth.

"Because I've been with her. I've been seeing her all year Pansy. Behind your back" he tried to steady himself enough to explain. It was difficult; he felt like he was falling apart.

Pansy thought that he must have been hysterical and had suffered a moment of delusion. There's no way he'd actually just said that. Then he opened his mouth and kept talking.

"I got her pregnant. And we didn't think we could have the baby. I don't know, maybe we could have. Anyway, she…she went and got an abortion. I took her back to her room and then she just start to seize up and twitch. I brought her downstairs," Draco was trembling again, "But it was too late. She started to bleed…bleed everywhere. Just everywhere. The professors couldn't do anything and she died. Right there in front of me. There was nothing I could do to save her. I don't know what happened."

Draco wept through the next few moments, mumbling incoherently about this all being his fault. Pansy sat there for a moment just processing what he'd said.

"You were fucking that dirty mudblood behind my back?" was the first thing she said.

Draco didn't get a chance to respond as Pansy quickly pushed him out of her room and slammed the door in his face.

Blaise was standing there, waiting for him.

"Draco? What the hell is going on? Why are you covered in blood?"

Draco didn't want to talk anymore. He just wanted to destroy something. In that moment, he wanted to destroy the world for taking Hermione away. For allowing her to die.

Suddenly the common room began to buzz. News of Hermione's sudden death had finally traveled over. People in the Slytherin room were just as shocked as the students who had watched on from a distance. But there were no tears.

Except for Draco's.

Blaise turned towards the crowd with a confused look. He stopped Goyle as he walked past them.

"What's going on?" Blaise asked him.

Goyle chuckled. "Looks like mudblood finally got what was coming to her."

"What do you mean?" asked Blaise with an excited twinkling in his eyes.

"The bitch is dead is what I mean. Just heard it. Happened less than an hour ago in the Gryffindor common room."

Draco's mind had gone blank with disbelief and anger. It was as if his friends were completely oblivious to the fact that he was standing there next to them, shirtless and covered in blood. They didn't even consider the idea that maybe he had been involved in this.

"I knew it was only a matter of time. Told her that too. Guess she believes me now" said Blaise with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Do you know how it happened?"

"No, not yet. Tryin' to find that out now. I want to hear all the details"

"She died-" Draco interrupted. Barely forcing the words out through the tension of his rage.

They finally noticed him.

"She died in my arms" he finished.

"What are you talking about Draco?" asked Blaise with a nervous laugh.

"Just as I said. She died in my arms. I loved her more than the world…and I just had to hold her while she died."

"Stop lying" said Goyle with a dumb smile on his face. "That's a fucked up joke Draco"

"Who's blood do you think I'm covered in?" Draco shouted.

The attention in the common room shifted over to them. Draco was glaring venomously at Blaise

"I don't care about this war, I don't care about the dark lord, and I don't care about being a death eater anymore. All of that can go to hell. It doesn't matter to me that she was muggle born. I loved her and the two of you can fuck off and go to hell. How fucking dare you-"

"-How dare you!" interjected Blaise with as much anger in his voice. "I don't care if you fucked the little tramp Draco but the idea of you being in love with that dirty mudblood is disgusting. You took an oath, the same oath as me. How dare you stand here in defiance of that?"

"I don't care what you think Blaise, I love her" his eyes clamped shut in pain. He didn't_ love_ her. He'd _loved_ her. She was gone now.

"She was hardly much of a muggle, much less a witch. The idea of you having feelings for a mutt like that is repulsive. You're not in your right mind."

Draco couldn't stand much more of Blaise. He drew his wand out.

"If you say another word about the woman I love Blaise, I'll fucking kill you where you stand"

He'd had a crazed desperation in his tone that made Blaise hesitant to respond.

"Whatever Draco. You know that when the others find out about this they won't stand for it. You'll be punished. They'll see you as a traitor"

"I don't care." Draco gripped his wand tighter.

"Come on Goyle. Granger isn't the only one who's dead to us now" Blaise walked away. Goyle waited behind just stunned for a minute. He couldn't believe that Draco, the guy he'd looked up to since year one had just confessed his love for the girl he thought they'd hated most.

"Come on Goyle!" repeated Blaise as he was about to walk out of the common room.

Goyle took one last look at Draco, "I hope you know what you're doing" then he turned and followed Blaise out of the room.

/

Nothing felt real. Nothing felt like it mattered. Draco felt completely hollow inside and knew he would remain that way without her.

The autopsy was able to show that she had been poisoned with whatever had been in the red vial she'd s consumed. All that Draco could think of was that he had been the one to give it to her. He told her she should drink it. He helped killed her.

He helped murder the love of his life.

It wouldn't have matter if Snape had gotten the bezoar into her mouth. She had been so weak from the procedure that it wouldn't have been enough to save her.

Draco told the authorities everything that had happened. He told them about how she'd been pregnant and had gotten an abortion. He told them all about Madam Infinity and the potions she'd given to Hermione.

Madam Infinity had attempted to flee but was caught surprisingly fast.

During her interrogation she said that she'd recognized who Hermione was the second she came to her door. As she revealed her dark mark with pride she proclaimed that the dark lord would reward her for exterminating the mudblood who had aided harry potter for so many years.

Draco felt sick to his stomach; he bore the same mark as the monster that had ripped Hermione out of his life.

_That mark on your arm means that you're willing to die for his cause Draco. If I had this child, it would be you and your kind hunting down me and my child to kill us. Tell me, are you going to be the one there to protect us? Or will you be the man who cast the Dark Mark above our roof?_

Her words echoed through his mind, tormenting him. She had gone through with the procedure because she didn't believe she could be safe with a child in a time of war and it ended up leading her straight to the woman who would take her life.

/

The funeral was held at the school. It was incredible how many people showed up.

Draco caught eyes with her parents and was panged with guilt. Her mother was inconsolable as she clung desperately onto her husband.

Draco had just gotten there but he didn't know how much more of the funeral he could stand. He hadn't been able to walk up to her casket. He couldn't bear to see her in that state. He had to watch her die that had been enough. He didn't need to see anymore.

He was about to walk away from the entire scene when Ron and Harry shouted out his name

"Malfoy" called Harry.

Draco stopped and let them catch up to him.

They looked as distraught as he did.

"Potter" Draco acknowledged him. He wasn't in the mood for any confrontation. He was completely drained; there was nothing left in him.

Harry looked like he was struggling to find his words. "It-It was you wasn't it? You were the one who got her pregnant and that's why you were in her room that night? Because you were together?" he asked.

Draco nodded his head but he didn't speak.

Ron had no color left to his sullen face. The fire in him no longer held a spark.

Harry slowly nodded as he processed his admission. "Why didn't she tell us about you?" he looked betrayed.

"Because I'm Malfoy" he said simply. "I didn't tell anyone about her either, until now"

He regretted that so badly…

"We hated you, but we would have accepted it. If Hermione really loved you, we would have been okay. She didn't need to get an abortion and hide everything away. She didn't need to keep this to herself" said Ron. He sounded more like he was wishing than talking.

"She didn't go to Madam Infinity's because she didn't want the two of you to know that she'd gotten pregnant" said Draco trying to console them. "She did it because of the war. She did it because I wouldn't stand by her side. She did it because I wasn't strong enough to love her out in the open where she belonged. I'm the reason she fell into the hands of that evil witch. I'm the reason she's dead" Draco was shaking with grief.

"I would do anything to take it back. I would do anything to convince her that I love her and that I'm willing to stand by her side through anything. Including this stupid war. I'm done. I'm done being a death eater; I'm done doing the wrong thing. I'm sick of making mistakes."

To his surprise, Harry reached out a hand to his shoulder. "What's going to happen to you?"

"Maybe they'll kill me" said Draco hopefully.

"You could help us you know. If you really want to do the right thing" said Ron.

_We won't let the death eaters have you if you decide to do the right thing and join us._

He felt another rush of tears grip him as her voice sounded in his mind.

"You could do it in her honor. Help us with the war and fight against the people who did this." encouraged Harry.

What did he have to lose? He had nothing else he wanted to live for now that Hermione was gone. Maybe he could live for her memory. Fighting for the cause she had always believed in.

Draco nodded, "Okay. I'll help you. Whatever you need. Under one condition"

"Name it"

Draco shook his head, "I don't want to talk here"

/

After the funeral, Draco met with Dumbledore in his office.

Draco renounced his pledge to the dark lord and agreed to be an advocate for The Order.

Dumbledore had agreed to his terms gladly.

"You do know that it's been attempted before. Not many times before, but it has been attempted. And you realize that most likely, it won't work. It goes against the laws of magic." Dumbledore said.

"I know that. But I have to have hope in something or I'm not going to make it through this war"

"Very well then. But you will wait until the war has been won before you will attempt it?"

Draco nodded, "I swear it"

"Then we are agreed"

He had officially changed allegiance.

All for her.

Everything he did, from this day forth, would be for her, in her honor.

A:N/ Keep reading, there is more to come! I finished writing the entire story tonight so I just have to edit and update now! Three more chapters after this and then it's over. Unless I feel like writing a prequel? Hmmm…Review! XD


	15. The Reason

Draco held it tightly in his hands and took a deep breath.

The war was over. Draco had been true to his word and had aided the Order in every way he was capable of over the course of it.

It had taken seven long years for Ron, Harry and Dumbledore to find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes. There had been times when Draco doubted that they would be successful at all. He had almost given up on multiple accounts.

Now that his reasons for despair had passed, he was glad he never quit.

There had been an epic battle between Harry and Lord Voldemort that morning. The entire world waited on edge, knowing everyone would be affected by the outcome.

In a blaze of destiny, Harry prevailed over the Dark Lord. Voldemort's killing curse rebounded and shattered him out of this world. He was dead.

The war was over.

The death eaters wasted no time as they began to flee. They feared the repercussions for their hateful actions over the last decade. Draco was grateful to no longer be affiliated with them. Over the years Dumbledore had managed to gradually lesson his dark mark until all that remained was a long scar, left to remind him of the dark magic that had once touched him there.

Draco shuddered to think of it now. He was a different man. Hermione had changed him, for the better. Draco still felt his heart leap each time he thought of her. He also felt his heart crash as he was reminded every day that she was gone. The pain remained at a constant, time never healing his regret and agony.

He closed his eyes and remembered Hermione; her long bushy hair, the soft feel of her touch against his skin, the smooth tone of her voice, and the deep brown of her eyes. He could feel her ghost kiss still caress his lips if he concentrated hard enough. He could hear her name call out his name if he was still enough. She lingered around him every day of his life, blessing and tormenting him.

Draco didn't want to wait another day.

He was grateful that Dumbledore understood how anxious he would be. When he came to Draco and told him the news of the Dark Lord's demise, he already had it with him.

Draco looked in his hand at the prize he had bargained for when he vowed his allegiance. This is what he had fought seven years for. For this one chance to change his destiny.

The time turner.

"Draco, you know that you won't be able to bring her back" repeated Dumbledore. He'd said it over and over again.

"Maybe not but after seven years, what I really need is to just see her face again. I need to tell her that I love her one more time before I die." He was adamant. He wouldn't be changing his mind. He had made it up seven years ago.

Dumbledore nodded, "I understand. After you use it this one time, you will no longer be able to find it. I've ensured that. The last thing I want is for you to drive yourself into madness."

Draco understood that he wouldn't be granted the opportunity to dwell in his past for the rest of his life. Although, had he been allowed, he would have spent the last of his days reliving just one day with Hermione. It didn't matter which day, any would do. He just needed to see her again. He would give anything for it.

"It won't matter. I'm not even sure that I'll remember that I used it to begin with" he said.

Dumbledore nodded.

"Go ahead Draco"

Draco closed his eyes, "I'm coming Hermione"

Muttering a spell to alter the effects of the time turner, "_Intus Mihi", _he spun the time turner three times over and drifted away…

A:N/ Okay, this is where I start to bend the rules…Review!


	16. I Love You

It was incredibly noisy. It took Draco a few moments to realize where he was.

The Great Hall.

He was seated at the bench next to Pansy. He looked over at her. She was, as usual, rambling aimlessly about some kind of gossip.

Draco looked down at his hands and his clothes. He was seven years younger, back inside the same age and body. The alteration spell had worked. He had been brought back into his own body seven years prior. It was a nifty spell he'd learned about during his work with the Order.

There were a couple of setbacks however; expenses for meddling with time. Draco would have no recollection of the past seven years as he currently knew them. His entire memory would be replaced with the reality of an altered future.

Whatever the effects were of his actions here today would become truth. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get the opportunity to consciously relive the next seven years as they reset but he would remember them as if he had lived through them when he returned back to the present.

The second drawback was that he'd have only a few hours in the current past before he would be forced back into the true present. And Dumbledore had made it clear that Draco would never again have access to the time turner. He'd have only this one day. One last day with Hermione.

So why was he sitting here wasting his time next to Pansy?

He shot up out of his seat and started to leave the hall. He could hear Pansy questioning why he was leaving so abruptly and decided to ignore her. His time was precious and she wasn't worth a second of it.

He opened the double doors and was greeted with an owl. It dropped a note in his hands. He unraveled it and read.

_I'm Going_

Draco's heart skipped a beat. He remembered this day. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him past the apparition point and prayed he had better timing this time around.

As soon as he was outside of the grounds he turned and apparated to Knockturn ally.

What was the number of that damn place again?

Draco considered killing Madam Infinity when he found the store. God knows he was wanting to and was more than willing, but he wouldn't waste his time on revenge. He wanted to give all his time to Hermione. Every last moment. But where was she?

He frantically ran up the road looking for that beautiful head of bushy hair.

Then he heard a pop from behind him. Someone had just apparated.

Hey looked up the alley and thought that his heart would beat itself clear out of his body.

It was Hermione.

She looked scared and nervous as her eyes looked up at the store numbers, keeping her head bowed low.

Draco almost forgot to move his feet and go after her as he stood there, stunned. It had been seven years. Seven long years of living for her memory alone and now she was feet away from him, alive.

He ran to her.

"Draco?"

_Oh God, The voice of an angel_

He swept her up into his arms without a moment of hesitation, crushing his lips passionately against hers.

A couple of people passing by on the streets shook their heads disapprovingly, muttering about indecency. Forget them. It was only them left in the world, living in that single moment.

Only Hermione.

She was solid in his arms-real. Her skin was soft warm and alive. The feel of her breathing against his chest enthralled him. Every small indication that she was alive and well sent his senses into exhilaration. His body was quivering from overwhelming joy.

"Draco what are you doing? People can see us" Hermione scolded as she pushed him off of her.

"I don't care about everyone else" he pulled her back and reattached his lips to hers. . She wasn't getting away from him this time. She kept arguing that he let her go but he refused, kissing her through her protest.

She finally gave up the fight allowed him to hold her in his arms without protest as she spoke. "Draco, What's going on? Why are you here?"

He looked into her eyes. They were filled with stress and still they were beautiful to him.

"I'm here for you" he told her.

"What do you mean you're here for me? Draco, I found this card in the library-"she began to explain.

Draco had to bite his lip to keep from interrupting her and saying the he already knew about Madam Infinity. He wanted to tell her that she was a death eater and that if she went to her store she would be murdered and he would lose her forever. But he had to have control. He let her finish without interference.

"-And I think that this is what's best for everyone. Do you want to come with me?"

"No. You're not going anywhere Hermione."

"Draco, we already had this conversation. You're not going to leave everything you believe in for me. We're not going to be able to protect a child in a war like this-"

"I would give everything I have for you." He interrupted her, "I would give up everyone I know for you. I would face death a hundred times before I would let any more harm come to you." He held onto her stomach, oh god, the bump was still there. His heart accelerated and for a moment he lost his speech. "…I would give anything to have this."

Tears brimmed Hermione's eyes. She looked frustrated and conflicted. "What are you saying Draco? This is so unlike you"

"I love you Hermione. That's what I'm saying. I love you so much that I can't stand it. You are my world. I would do anything for you. Including give up everything that you think makes my life important. Because none of that matters. It's taken me years to realize that you were the most important opportunity of my life."

Hermione looked confused at what he'd said but he didn't pause to explain.

"Having you in my life is all that I need to find happiness. If having this baby is what will make you happy then I will be there for you every step of the way. If you don't want to go through with this than we'll figure something out, later. But I'm not letting you go to that store. I'll die today before I let you do that."

Hermione was speechless as she stood in his arms looking up at Draco as if he had lost his mind.

"I'm having a hard time believing this is you speaking…"

He laughed, "I know. It seems like a sudden change doesn't it? I guess I had a bit of an epiphany. But you have to believe me Hermione. I love you with every part of me."

Those butterflies were going to be the death of her.

She clung desperately onto him and instantly found herself swimming in the motion of another kiss.

She pulled herself away from his kiss and held his face in her hands. He faced her, looking each other directly in the eyes.

She needed to know that this was real, and that he was sincere.

Those endless gray eyes stared back at her with adoration and devotion and she felt the butterflies multiply inside of her.

He watched her struggling to accept his declaration. Her eyes moving back and forth as she argued internally on whether or not to accept him as genuine. It made him smile. She was precious.

"Do you believe me?" he asked her softly.

She pondered for another moment before finally smiling at him. Once again shining those perfect teeth for him. It had been so long since he'd seen that smile. In seven years he had never seen a smile that could shed that much light on his heart.

Hermione nodded her head, "I believe you Draco and I love you too"

His smile was so big he was sure it was going to fall off his face.

She kept talking, "I've loved you for so long, really. I just… I didn't want to tell you and have you not feel the same way. I didn't want you to leave-"

"I'll never leave you"

Her smile just wouldn't quit.

"Can we get out of here?"

"Gladly" he pulled her into him and side along apparated them back to the school.

They wasted no time rushing up to her room. They fell through the door entangled in one another's embrace; their lips separating only when necessary.

Draco couldn't keep his hands still as they touched every part of her. Caressing her like a lost treasure.

"Tell me you love me" Draco requested into her lips.

"I love you Draco"

"Mmm" he pushed his lips back onto hers, "Say it again" He muffled into their kiss.

"I love-"another kiss interrupted her, "I love you Draco"

"God, I love hearing those words come out of your mouth…it makes me want to never stop kissing you" he caressed her bottom lip with his finger, running it along the shape of her curve before placing his lips back onto her.

They walked back together until they fell into the bed. Hermione collapsed on top of him.

Hermione began taking his shirt off like a woman with a mission.

"I need to be closer to you" she pleaded, her voice low and hot.

Draco removed her hands from him and finished undoing the buttons on his shirt faster than she had been able to. Within seconds he'd thrown it off.

He felt his heart flutter as her warm hands ran up his bare back. Her focused look was enticing as her hands ran across the front of his waist and down the front of his pants. She tugged down aggressively at his zipper and pulled his pants down to knees.

Draco stood up and removed the rest of his clothing.

"You're far overdressed" he growled playfully. His hands set to work ridding her of her clothes.

Her body tensed up beneath him as he loomed over her, pressing bare flesh against flesh.

His tongue ran up her neck and he felt her breath quiver as she exhaled.

"Draco…" she moaned as he began to gently suck on her favorite spot. She tasted so sweet and felt like a dream come true in his arms.

He felt his self-control slipping as her moans increased.

"I need you inside of me" moaned Hermione as her neck stretched back into the pillow. Draco nipped his teeth against her taunt neck.

Her nails gently sank into his back as his teeth pressed down harder.

"Draco, please" she begged, shifting her hips beneath him to entice him.

"Look at me" he moved he head back to look at her.

She looked back him.

He spoke to her as he placed himself at her entrance and gently pushed his tip inside of her, "I love you Hermione"

Her eyelids fluttered her neck rolled back. He felt her nails running up and down his back in an attempt to grasp control.

He pushed himself in further. She was wet and welcoming. He maintained control as he slowly entered her, avoiding the temptation to thrust fully into her in one quick motion.

He savored the feel of her as he pushed fully inside of her. He dragged his tongue back up the side of her neck and could feel the vibrations of her moans persuading him to continue.

His thrust steadily increased as she clasped her arms around him, holding onto him as he made love to her.

Draco ran his hand down her midsection and worked her clit with two of his fingers; rubbing it in circles as he plunged in and out of her.

His thrust were controlled and focused, concentrating completely on her pleasure.

She started to press her hips up to meet him against his thrust. Draco surrendered to the pleasure and began to ravish her; picking up her hips and forcing her body to press harder against him.

She cried out in ecstasy as she felt her orgasm building. "Oh god…Draco"

He moved faster and pressed deeper. Her neck flew back again as her moans escaped in stifled gasps. His hips flowed into hers in a sensual rhythm that they both matched as she pulsed against his cock.

He felt his own orgasm building, biting down onto his lip to maintain the control and last a bit longer. Hermione pulled him down over her, her moans falling directly into his ear.

He groaned as the sound reverberated through his mind. He lashed his teeth out and bit down on her neck as he moved faster. He felt her spasm against him again and again, tightening and releasing as she cried out his name in orgasm.

"Hermione…"he groaned back into her ear as he felt himself release inside.

He collapsed down beside her and held her as close as possible to him. Hermione nuzzled herself into the crook of his arm, the warmth of her body radiating off onto him, blending them together in a haze of passion.

His hand caressed her face lovingly as he placed a thousand kisses on her lips. "You are so beautiful" He would never get enough of her, it was impossible.

Hermione was pretty sure that if she said something all the little butterflies in her would fly away. She decided to keep them closed and enjoy the feel of Draco's soft lips meshed against hers. She would never tire of kissing this man.

Draco tore himself away with reluctance to look at the clock. He didn't have much time left.

"Fuck" he muttered as dread filled him.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione with concern etched in her voice. She didn't like the look on his face. It was unsettling.

"Hermione, listen to me. Whatever happens I want you to know how much I love you. Don't you ever doubt that I will _always _love you. No matter what happens-I love you." he said, making direct eye contact with her. He couldn't stress it enough. He needed her to know.

She nodded in understanding. "I know Draco. I love you too. No matter what."

He kissed her deeply, entailing his hands into the soft tendrils of her hair. Their eyes were closed as they lost themselves in love; willingly drowning inside the crescendo of passion inside of their hearts. Neither of them were willing to pull away that kiss. They needed each other more than they needed air.

Neither had to pull away as time began to dissipate around them. His present reality was soon quelled by actual reality. Draco felt her slipping away from him, losing the feel of her touch as he was pulled farther and farther away from that perfect moment…

A:N/ I'm in an updating mood today. Hope you liked the chapter. There's only one left! Thanks for still following along! I read and appreciate every one of your reviews! Even the ones where you yell at me for killing Hermione ;) Haha


	17. Celebration of Life

A:N/ So, this is the last chapter! *tears* I hope you enjoyed following along with the story as much as I enjoyed writing. Thank you for reading through from chapter one until the end. :D I'm still working on Torn for those of you who would like to continue following my writing. Also, I'm really debating the idea of a prequel...still haven't decided. *Ponders* Let me know what you think? Anway, Thank you again for the support and reviews! x Enjoy! XD

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Draco grabbed the cake and recounted the candles. 1,2,3,4,5,6,…7; perfect. A quick flick of his wand and they were ignited. He opened the door of the kitchen with his body and began to sing as he walked into the next room where everyone had been anxiously waiting.

"Haaaaappy Birthday to you-" Draco began with enthusiasm as everyone quickly joined in.

"…Happy Birthday dear Celeste, Happy birthday to you!"

The little girl's eyes widened with excitement as the giant cake was set down in front of her.

Celeste had blond bushy hair and sharp gray eyes. She also had a gap on the bottom of her teeth, from having recently lost a tooth. The gap became completely visible as her mouth gaped open to take in a dramatic breath. Her lungs filled up to capacity with air and then rushed out to ensure that she attacked all seven candles in one long blow.

Everyone applauded and cheered.

"What did you wish for?" Draco whispered in her ear as he knelt down beside her.

"I'm not telling you. You know that's against the rules dad" she said as she licked the frosting off the first candle. She took the second one and stuck it in his mouth

"Mmm, thank you" he sucked the frosting off and then set the cleaned candle down on the table, exchanging it for a knife to cut the cake.

Draco started to plate up pieces of cake onto small saucers.

"Celeste, take your first bite. You know the rules. No one else can eat until you have the first bite because you're the birthday girl."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Here," she such a big bite of the cake that her cheeks puffed up.

"Is it good?" he checked with her.

"Mmmhmm" she nodded her head up and down rapidly.

"Here, go share" he passed her two piece. She set her cake down in order to grab hold of them, then ran the two pieces of cake over to two men standing at the other side of the room.

"Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron- here. Try this" she presented the plates up to them and they gladly received.

"Thank you. Happy Birthday" said Ron

"Thank you, you're welcome!" she bolted off to get more cake to share with her guests.

"You know that today marks seven years without Hermione" Harry mentioned to Ron.

Ron cringed, "Yeah, I know. But you know what Harry? I think that had Hermione known that would be the sacrifice she'd have to make for her daughter to be here, she would have been happy to do it."

"Yeah, I think so too. Selfless Hermione, you know?" agreed Harry. It still pained him to think of his lost friend. They had both been there that day.

It had taken Ron and Harry sometime to get used to the idea that Hermione was with Malfoy but after seeing how nauseatingly happy he made her, they accepted it. Finding out that she was already pregnant was an entirely different pill they had to swallow. It didn't help that they'd found out both pieces of news at the same time.

It hadn't mattered that the war had been going on. Draco had been quick to change sides and join the cause for the woman he loved. Hermione had used her intellect and logic to help Harry, Ron and Draco pinpoint horcrux locations without having to actually fight out on the field. She had been the internal brains of all their operations. Without her, the war might have lingered on for years. Instead, it had ended almost as fast as it began.

Which had been an incredible blessing for Hermione, seeing as her due date was rapidly approaching. The night she went into labor they all rushed to St. Mungo's eager to meet the newest edition to the Malfoy family.

Hermione had a long and difficult birth. They tried to stay hopeful through it all but it became increasingly clear that Hermione wasn't going to make it through.

She stayed with them long enough to hold her daughter and see that she was okay.

Draco had taken it the hardest. He refused to leave her side for hours after she had passed. The only consolation he had was that little girl. He doted on her like she was the sun in the sky.

In his world, she was.

It was tragic to remember every year that Celeste's birthday was also Hermione's angel day. Draco had tried his best over the years to mark both occasions as celebrations of life.

"Daddy" Celeste tugged at Draco's arm.

"Yes angel?"

"We did the cake. Now it's time to send our note to mommy"

"Is it that time already? Okay, let's go"

They had done the ritual every year. They'd write a letter, put it in an envelope and float it up towards the sky until they could no longer see it.

Celeste didn't know it, but Draco had made copies of her letters each year, since the first for his own keepsake.

She was so much like her mother. With the exception of her current blemish, she had perfect teeth. Draco never thought that a smile could brighten his heart as much as Hermione's had until he saw his daughter smile. Her laughter gave him the drive to live on without his heart. She was the most precious gift he'd ever been given.

His pride and confidence in her was immense. She was incredibly bright and Draco gave Hermione every bit of credit for that. Each year Celeste grew older, she would remind Draco more and more of Hermione. It was almost like she'd never left. She was just with him in a different way now.

They walked outside and tied up the letters. Celeste had stuck a picture of herself inside the binding.

"Why are you putting that in there?" inquired Draco.

"Because I want mommy to know what I look like now" she explained.

As soon as it was secured in the wrapping she began to eye it with doubt. Draco could tell that she didn't really want to separate from it. He pulled it back out.

"I think that maybe you should hold onto that"

She tucked it back into her pocket and held onto his hand.

Draco took his wand out and pointed it at Hermione's letter.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_" he levitated the letter higher and higher up until it disappeared into the sunlight.

Celeste watched the letter vanish and whispered, "Love you mommy"

Draco smiled down at her before looking back up into the sky and whispered in reverent agreement, "I love you Hermione. No matter what."

He looked back down at his daughter who had her eyes still fixed on the sky.

"Daddy"

"Yes angel?"

"Do you think that mommy can see us from where she's at?"

Draco looked up at the sky. The sun was just starting to peak out from a series of clouds to shine down at them. The ground around him seemed to brighten as the sun stretched its rays out and engulfed them in its warmth.

He smiled then looked back to his daughter, who was looking up at him with wide and expectant eyes.

"You know what Celeste?" he gave her hand a tiny squeeze as he nodded his head slowly, "I think that it just might be a possibility"

Her smile rivaled the sun as she looked up towards the sky and wondered.


End file.
